Modeling Public debt of the United States The interest paid on the public debt of the United States of America as a percent of federal expenditures for selected years is shown in the following table.

If t is the number of years past 1900, use the table to complete the following.

(a) Use the data in the table to find a fourth-degree function d(t) that models the percent of federal expenditures devoted to payment of interest on the public debt.

(b) Use d(t) to predict the percent of federal expenditures devoted to payment of interest in 2009.

(c) Calculate

(d) Can d(t) be used to predict the percent of federal expenditures devoted to payment of interest on the public debt for large values of t? Explain.

(e) For what years can you guarantee that d(t) cannot be used to predict the percent of federal expenditures devoted to payment of interest on the public debt? Explain. 

Transcribed Image Text:

Interest Paid as a Interest Paid as a Percent of Percent of Year Federal Expenditures Year Federal Expenditures 1930 1975 9.8 1940 10.5 1980 12.7 1950 13.4 1985 18.9 1955 9.4 1990 21.1 1960 10.0 1995 22.0 1965 9.6 2000 20.3 1970 9.9 2003 14.7 Interest Paid as a Interest Paid as a Percent of Percent of Year Federal Expenditures Year Federal Expenditures 1930 1975 9.8 1940 10.5 1980 12.7 1950 13.4 1985 18.9 1955 9.4 1990 21.1 1960 10.0 1995 22.0 1965 9.6 2000 20.3 1970 9.9 2003 14.7

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a Consider the following table provided in the textbook which shows the p... View the full answer