a country in africa is trying to restore its zebra population and is carefully keeping track of how many…

a country in africa is trying to restore its zebra population and is carefully keeping track of how many zebras are in the area. to do so, local wildlife authorities put tags on 140 zebras and release them. later, they corral 450 zebras; among those zebras, 30 are tagged. to the nearest whole number, what is the best estimate for the zebra population?

a country in africa is trying to restore its zebra population and is carefully keeping track of how many zebras are in the area. to do so, local wildlife authorities put tags on 140 zebras and release them. later, they corral 450 zebras; among those zebras, 30 are tagged. to the nearest whole number, what is the best estimate for the zebra population?

Answer

Explanation:

Step1: Set up proportion

Let $x$ be the total zebra population. The proportion is $\frac{\text{number of tagged zebras in the first - catch}}{\text{total population}}=\frac{\text{number of tagged zebras in the second - catch}}{\text{number of zebras in the second - catch}}$, so $\frac{140}{x}=\frac{30}{450}$.

Step2: Cross - multiply

Cross - multiplying gives $30x = 140\times450$.

Step3: Solve for $x$

First, calculate $140\times450 = 63000$. Then $x=\frac{63000}{30}=2100$.

Answer:

2100