Question

Look at the table. If water continues to be used at the current rate, predict what the saturated thickness will be in 2015?

It will be near 10 meters.

It will be greater than 12 meters.

There will be no change in thickness.
saturated thickness

Answer 1

I can’t see the table you mention — please paste the numbers (year vs. saturated thickness) or upload the table. Without the data I can’t pick which of the three choices is correct.

How to decide (quick method you can use):
1. List two or more year/thickness pairs from the table (for example 2005: 14.5 m, 2010: 12.0 m).
2. Compute the rate of change (slope) in m/year: slope = (thickness2 − thickness1)/(year2 − year1).
3. Extrapolate to 2015: predicted thickness2015 = thickness_last + slope × (2015 − year_last).
4. Compare the result to the choices:
- If the predicted value is about 10 m, choose “It will be near 10 meters.”
- If it’s greater than 12 m, choose “It will be greater than 12 meters.”
- If the slope ≈ 0 (no change), choose “There will be no change in thickness.”

Example: if 2005 = 14.5 m and 2010 = 12.0 m, slope = (12.0 − 14.5)/(2010 − 2005) = −2.5/5 = −0.5 m/year. From 2010 to 2015: 12.0 + (−0.5×5) = 9.5 m → “near 10 meters.”

Send the table and I’ll compute the exact prediction.