recently, bats have been disappearing from the wild due to a contagious fungus. to monitor the current…

recently, bats have been disappearing from the wild due to a contagious fungus. to monitor the current population in a certain region, troy collects 78 bats, marks them, and releases them. later, troy collects 600 bats, and finds that 39 of them are marked. to the nearest whole number, what is the best estimate for the bat population?

recently, bats have been disappearing from the wild due to a contagious fungus. to monitor the current population in a certain region, troy collects 78 bats, marks them, and releases them. later, troy collects 600 bats, and finds that 39 of them are marked. to the nearest whole number, what is the best estimate for the bat population?

Answer

Answer:

1200

Explanation:

Step1: Set up proportion

Let $x$ be the total bat - population. The proportion is $\frac{\text{marked bats in first sample}}{\text{total bats in first sample}}=\frac{\text{marked bats in second sample}}{\text{total bats in second sample}}$, so $\frac{78}{x}=\frac{39}{600}$.

Step2: Cross - multiply

$39x = 78\times600$.

Step3: Solve for $x$

$x=\frac{78\times600}{39}=1200$.