The amounts (in megawatts) of new solar power installed in the United States are shown in Table 8 for various years.
Table 8
Amounts of New Solar Power Installed in the United States
Amount of New Solar Power
YearInstalled (megawatts)
2000 ………………………… 4
2002 ………………………… 23
2004 ………………………… 58
2006 ………………………… 105
2008 ………………………… 298
2010 ………………………… 852
2012 …………………………3369
2014 …………………………6201
Let y be the amount (in megawatts) of new solar power installed in the year that is x years since 2000.
a. Construct a scatterplot.
b. Is there a linear association, a nonlinear association, or no association?
c. Use technology to graph the equation  = 5.79(1.66)x on the scatterplot. Does the model come close to the data points?
d. Predict the amount of new solar power that will be installed in 2015. Do you have much faith in your prediction? Explain.
e. GTM Research predicted that the amount of new solar power installed will increase by 31% from 2014 to 2015. On the basis of this prediction, how much new solar power will be installed in 2015? Compare your result with the prediction you made in part (d).