Question

an island has 12 fur seal rookeries (breeding places). to estimate the fur seal pup population in rookery a, 4730 fur seal pups were tagged in early august. in late august, a sample of 1100 pups was observed, and 304 of these were found to have been previously tagged. use a proportion to estimate the total number of fur seal pups in rookery a. the estimated total number of fur seal pups in rookery a is (round to the nearest whole number.)

Explanation:

Step1: Set up the proportion

Let $x$ be the total number of fur - seal pups in Rookery A. The proportion is based on the ratio of tagged to total in the sample being equal to the ratio of tagged in the population to the total population. So, $\frac{304}{1100}=\frac{4730}{x}$.

Step2: Cross - multiply

$304x = 4730\times1100$.

Step3: Solve for $x$

$x=\frac{4730\times1100}{304}=\frac{5203000}{304}\approx17115$.

Answer:

17115