Computing power has increased dramatically as a result of the ability to place an increasing number of transistors on a single processor chip. The table lists the number of transistors on some popular computer chips made by Intel.

(a) Make a scatter diagram of the data. Let the x-axis represent the year, where x = 0 corresponds to 1989, and let the y-axis represent the number of transistors.

(b) Decide whether a linear, a logarithmic, or an exponential function best describes the data.

(c) Determine a function ƒ that approximates these data. Plot ƒ and the data on the same coordinate axes.

(d) Assuming that this trend continues, use ƒ to estimate the number of transistors on a chip, to the nearest million, in the year 2016.

Transistors Year Chip 1989 486DX 1,200,000 Pentium 1994 3,300,000 Pentium 4 2000 42,000,000 2006 Core 2 Duo 291,000,000 Core 2 Quad 2008 820,000,000 Core (2nd gen.) 1,160,000,000 2010 Core (3rd gen.) 2012 1,400,000,000