5.3+Finding+Population+Densities+0910

B.L.   January 13th, 2010 The Big Idea - Many important practical and mathematical applications involve comparing quantities of one kind or another; it is important to know which method to use and how we should use them. Essential Questions - What do you think are the most and least crowded places on Earth? How could you use land area and population data to test your ideas? Notes From Questions - Instead of the census region on problem A, you can use your home country's population density. When you are trying to find a places population density, you need the data of area, and the total population of that place. Population density = Total population/area (Don't forget to keep your labels). Vocabulary Words - Population Density - The population density is the average number of things (people, animals, and so on) per unit of area. Population density indicates how crowded a region is and can be calculated as the ratio of population to area. A. What is the population density of the census region in which your school is located? (In our case, our home country/city's region) - South Korea (My home country, estimated in September 2009) = 48,379,392 people, about 38,622 square miles. 48,379,392/38.622 = About 1252 people per square mile. B. Divide the remaining eight census regions among the groups in your class. Find the population density of the region you are assigned. Share your group's results with the rest of the class, so that every group has data for all nine regions. (In our case, we were each randomly assigned 2 regions, the regions that are in bold are my assigned regions) - South Atlantic = 46,398,000/233,221 = About 175 people per square mile East North Central = 43,184,000/243,539 = About 178 people per square mile New England = 13,270,000/62,811 = About 222 people per square mile Middle Atlantic = 38,125,000/99,463 = About 384 people per square mile East South Central = 15,890,000/178,615 = About 89 people per square mile West North Central = 18,210,000/507,981 = About 36 people per square mile West South Central = 28,404,000/426,234 = About 67 people per square mile Mountain = 15,214,000/856,121 = About 18 people per square mile Pacific = 41,645,000/895,353 = About 47 people per square mile C. Order the regions from least crowded to most crowded. (1. Being the region with the least population density) 1. Mountain (About 18 people per square mile) 2. West North Central (About 36 people per square mile) 3. Pacific (About 47 people per square mile) 4. West South Central (About 67 people per square mile) 5. East South Central (About 89 people per square mile) 6. South Atlantic (About 175 people per square mile) 7. East North Central (About 178 people per square mile) 8. New England (About 222 people per square mile) 9. Middle Atlantic (About 384 people per square mile) D. Compare the population density of the region which you live (In our case, our home country/city's region to our own assigned regions) to the population density of each neighboring region. Write complete sentences explaining which regions you are comparing and describing how their population densities compare. - I am comparing the population density of South Korea to the population density of the South Atlantic Region. The similarities are that the total population for both areas are very similar, (South Korea- 48,379,392 > 46,398,000-South Atlantic) but that there is a huge difference of about 130,000 in land area (South Korea-38,622 square mile < 266,221 square mile-South Atlantic). Follow Up. What do you think accounts for the differences in population densities among the regions? In other words, why do you think some areas are densely populated and others are more sparsely populated? - The densely populated regions maybe has a limited amount of resources or lack of space. Most of the sparsely populated regions are very wide and has good land for farming/growing crops.