Chapter 3.4, Problem 47E

The 2003 SARS Outbreak In the early stages of the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) epidemic in 2003 the number of reported cases could be approximated by

$A\left(t\right)=167{\left(1.18\right)}^t\left(0\le t\le 20\right)$

t days after March 17, 2003 (the first day for which statistics were reported by the World Health Organization).

a. What was the average rate of change of $A\left(t\right)$ fromMarch 17 to March 23? Interpret the result.

b. Which of the following is true? For the first 20 days of the epidemic, the number of reported cases

(A) increased at a faster and faster rate.

(B) increased at a slower and slower rate.

(C) decreased at a faster and faster rate.

(D) decreased at a slower and slower rate. [HINT: See Example 2.]