Chapter 5 Polynomials and Polynomial Functions - 5.2 Evaluate and Graph Polynomial Functions - 5.2 Exercises - Problem Solving - Page 343: 57

$2002$

We are given the function: $$S(t)=0.0013t^4-0.021t^3+0.084t^2+0.037t+1.2,$$ where $t\geq 0$. We make a table of values for the function $S$: \[ \begin{array}{|c|c|} \hline t& S(t) \\ \hline 0 &1.2\\ \hline 2 & 1.46\\ \hline 4 & 1.68\\ \hline 6 & 1.59\\ \hline 8 & 1.44\\ \hline 10 & 1.97\\ \hline 12 & 4.41\\ \hline 14 &10.50\\ \hline \end{array}\] We plot the ordered pairs $(t,S(t))$ from the table: $$(10.048,2)$$ This means that the first year when the number of snowboarding participants was greater than $2$ million was $1992+10=2002$.