Answer
Over the period 1997-2003, the number of articles published increased at an average rate of $117$ articles per year, representing an increase of $ 14\%$ during that period.
Work Step by Step
Using the spreadsheet we created in part (a), we see that the average rate of change over $[7,13]$ is:
$0.117$ thousand$= 117$ articles per year,
and we calculate the percentage change of N over $[7,13]$ to be:
$ 0.14=14\%$
So,over the period 1997-2003, the number of articles published increased at an average rate of $117$ articles per year, representing an increase of $ 14\%$ during that period.
