1. A tool and die company buys a machine for $175,000 and it depreciates at a rate of 30% per year. (In other words, at the end of each year the depreciated value is 70% of what it was at the beginning of the year.) Find the depreciated value of the machine after 5 full years.
2. The table shows the mid-year populations of Argentina (in millions) from 2009 through 2015.
Year ........................................... Population
2009 ............................................ 40.9
2010 ............................................. 41.3
2011 ............................................. 41.8
2012 ............................................. 42.2
2013 ............................................. 42.6
2014 ............................................. 43.0
2015 ............................................. 43.4

(a) Use the exponential regression feature of a graphing utility to find the nth term (an) of a geometric sequence that models the data. Let n represent the year, with n = 9 corresponding to 2009.
(b) Use the sequence from part (a) to describe the rate at which the population of Argentina is growing.
(c) Use the sequence from part (a) to predict the population of Argentina in 2025. The U.S. Census Bureau predicts the population of Argentina will be 47.2 million in 2025. How does this value compare with your prediction?
(d) Use the sequence from part (a) to predict when the population of Argentina will reach 50.0million.