Chapter 10.1, Problem 19E

The number of cell phone subscribers has been growing exponentially for some time. According to Information Please Almanac, there were $109,478$ thousand cellular phone subscriptions in the United States in $2000$. In $2002$, there were $140,766$ .

a. Develop the exponential model that represents the nations cellular phone subscriptions.

b. Use the model to predict the number of subscriptions in $2004$. (The actual number in $2004$ was $\text{182, 140 thousand}$ .)

c. Use the model to predict the number of subscriptions in $2006$. (The actual number in $2006$ was $\text{233, 000 thousand}$.).