Question

how do i find the formula for this problem, i can't even find an example of it in my text book.
A conservationalist wants to find out how many deer are in a preserve. The conservationalist tags 634 deer then releases them. Later, she comes back and catches 342 deer, but 171 of them are already tagged. how many deer are in the preserve?

I have trouble with word problems they are the worst! please help me!!!

Answer 1

It's not an exact calculation here that the conservationist is doing, but producing an estimate. What she's discovered is that approximately 50% of the deer in the park (171 out of a sample of 342) have now been tagged. So her original 634 deer ought to be about half the population of the park.

Answer 2

It's referred to as the "mark-and-recapture" technique: you can find it under "Mark and Recapture" in Wikipedia, together with examples of the math involved.

Answer 3

Thank you to everyone who responded this helps a lot!