Question

The populations and areas of four states are shown.

A 3-column table has 4 rows. The first column has entries State A, State B, State C, State D. The second column is labeled Population with entries 1,055,173, 1,333,089, 3,596,677, 6,745,408. The third column is labeled Area (kilometers squared) with entries 2,677, 36,418, 5,543, 10,555.

Which statement regarding these four states is true?

The state with the lowest population has the greatest population density.
The state with the second lowest population has the lowest population density.
The state with the lowest population has the lowest population density.
The state with the second greatest population has the lowest population density.

Answer 1

Compute population density = population ÷ area:

- State A: 1,055,173 ÷ 2,677 ≈ 394.2 people/km²
- State B: 1,333,089 ÷ 36,418 ≈ 36.6 people/km²
- State C: 3,596,677 ÷ 5,543 ≈ 648.9 people/km²
- State D: 6,745,408 ÷ 10,555 ≈ 639.1 people/km²

State B (the second-lowest population) has the lowest population density. So the second statement is true.