Question

while studying a population of porcupines, a group of scientists caught and tagged 24 porcupines. a week later, the scientists counted 147 porcupines and saw that 12 of them had tags. to the nearest whole number, what is the best estimate for the porcupine population?

Explanation:

Step1: Set up proportion

Let \( N \) be the total population. The proportion of tagged porcupines in the second sample should be equal to the proportion of tagged porcupines in the total population. So we have \(\frac{12}{147}=\frac{24}{N}\).

Step2: Cross - multiply to solve for \( N \)

Cross - multiplying gives us \( 12\times N = 24\times147 \). Then \( N=\frac{24\times147}{12} \).

Step3: Simplify the expression

First, simplify \(\frac{24}{12}=2\). Then \( N = 2\times147=294 \).

Answer:

294