We present a precalculus project based on a quote by Thomas Malthus#x2014;that population increases in a geometric ratio while sustenance increases only in an arithmetic ratio. A model United Nations is created to present and discuss the long term prognosis for individual countries given data on population growth and food production. Student groups, representing various nations, are asked to use the given data to develop functions to model the population growth and food production of their country. They compare these exponential and linear functions to determine whether starvation will occur and they prepare oral and written presentations of their findings for a session of the UN. Objectives of the project include collaborative learning, written expression of mathematics, and basic modeling of data. Observations and sample data are given.
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