I Love the City!

Materials: calculator

Work alone or in a group of two or three.

The table shows the population of each of the ten largest cities in the U.S. according to the results of the 2000 census. The population of each city for 1950 is also given.

Rank and City	Population in 2000	Population in 1950
New York, NY	8,008,278	7,891,957
Los Angeles, CA	3,694,820	1,970,358
Chicago, IL	2,896,016	3,620,962
Houston, TX	1,953,631	596,163
Philadelphia, PA	1,517,550	2,071,605
Phoenix, AZ	1,321,045	106,818
San Diego, CA	1,223,400	334,387
Dallas, TX	1,188,580	434,462
San Antonio, TX	1,144,646	408,442
Detroit, MI	951,270	1,849,568

Sources: The World Almanac for Kids

Procedure for the Activity

Step 1 Find the rate of change for each city for 1950-1990.
Step 2 Which cities showed a positive rate of change? Which city had the most dramatic increase in population?
Step 3 Which cities showed a negative rate of change? Which city had the most dramatic decrease in population?
Step 4 Select one city that showed an increase in population and one city that showed a decrease in population. Make a line graph for each city on the same coordinate plane.

Wrapping Up the Activity

Consider the graph you made in Exercise 4. Suppose that the rate of change of each city remains approximately the same in the future. Do you think the populations of the two cities you selected will ever be approximately the same? Do you think that the population of any two cities in the table will ever be approximately the same? Write a paragraph to explain your reasoning.