Question: ADULT OBESITY In the United States, the percentage of adults (age 20-74) classified as obese held steady through the 1960s and 1970s at around 14% but began to rise rapidly during the 1980s and 1990s. This rise in adult obesity coincided with the period when an increasing number of Americans began eating more sugar and fats. The function
P(t) = 0.01484t2 + 0.446t + 15 (0 ≤ t ≤ 22)
gives the percentage of obese adults from 1978 (t = 0) through the year 2000 (t = 22).
a. What percentage of adults were obese in 1978? In 2000?
b. How fast was the percent of obese adults increasing in 1980 (t = 2)? In 1998 (t = 20)?