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USA TODAY® Related Activities
USA TODAY Related
Activities provides activities related to the concept of the lesson
as well as up-to-date Snapshot data.
That’s Rich!
Materials: calculator,
grid paper for making graphs
Work alone or in a group of two or three.
An individual or a family with a net worth
of $1,000 million or more is known as a “dollar billionaire”.
In 1992, there were an estimated 73 billionaires in the U.S. Today there
are well over 200 billionaires. The table shows the ten U.S. states
with the most billionaires. It also shows the total net worth of the
billionaires in each state.
| State |
Net
Worth of Billionaires |
Number
of Billionaires |
| 1. California |
163,315,000,000 |
92 |
| 2.
New York |
104,025,000,000 |
49 |
| 3.
Texas |
78,553,000,000 |
36 |
| 4.
Florida |
24,350,000,000 |
20 |
| 5.
Illinois |
31,785,000,000 |
15 |
| 6. Pennsylvania |
19,850,000,000 |
14 |
| 7.
Washington |
109,495,000,000 |
14 |
| 8.
Michigan |
12,575,000,000 |
11 |
| 9.
Colorado |
9,600,000,000 |
10 |
| 10. Massachusetts |
33,200,000,000 |
10 |
Procedure for the Activity
| Step 1 |
Make a horizontal
bar graph that shows the number of billionaires for each of the ten
states. (See a sample horizontal bar graph on page 16 of your textbook.)
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| Step 2 |
In the graph you made in Step
1, suppose a segment was drawn along the top of each bar. Which states
would have segments that are congruent? Explain.
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| Step 3 |
Use the information in the table
to find the average net worth of a billionaire in each state. For
example, what is the average net worth for a billionaire in California?
Round each value for net worth to the nearest one hundred million.
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| Step 4 |
Use the values from Step 3 to
make a horizontal bar graph that shows the average net worth for
billionaires for each of the ten states.
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| Step 5 |
In the graph you made
in Step 4, suppose a segment was drawn along the top of each bar.
Which states would have segments that are congruent? Explain. |
Wrapping Up the Activity
Research several billionaires on the Internet. Find
out how these billionaires made their fortunes. Make a conjecture about
why California, New York, and Texas have the most billionaires in the
U.S. Write a paragraph justifying your conjecture.
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—EOC