Chapter 1.2, Problem 7E

The American Food Dollar The following table shows the percentage $P=P\left(d\right)$ of the American food dollar that was spent on eating away from home (at restaurants, for example) as function of the date $d$.

$d=\text{Year}$	$P=\text{Precent}\text{spent}\text{away}\text{from}\text{home}$
$1969$	$25\%$
$1989$	$30\%$
$2009$	$34\%$

a. Find $P\left(1989\right)$ and explain what it means.

b. What does $P\left(1999\right)$ mean? Estimate its value.

c. What is the average rate of change per year in percentage of the food dollar spent away from home for the period from $1989$ to $2009$?

d. What does $P\left(2004\right)$ mean? Estimate its value. (Hint: Your calculation in part c should be useful.)

e. Predict the value of $P\left(2014\right)$ and explain how you made your estimate.