What This Document Is
This document is a student project completed for LaGuardia Community College’s College Algebra and Trigonometry (MAT 115) course. It analyzes US national debt using data from 1960 to 2018, alongside a recent article from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. The project explores potential mathematical models – linear and exponential – to represent the growth of the national debt.
Why This Document Matters
This assignment is intended for students in MAT 115 to apply mathematical modeling techniques to a real-world financial issue. It demonstrates the practical application of concepts learned in the course, such as identifying trends and fitting equations to data. It serves as a graded assessment of a student’s ability to connect algebra and trigonometry to current economic concerns.
Common Limitations or Challenges
This is a single student’s interpretation and analysis. It does not represent a comprehensive economic forecast or professional financial advice. The models presented are simplified representations of a complex economic reality.
What This Document Provides
The full document includes: a summary of a recent article on the US national debt, a table of historical debt data, an attempt to model the debt using linear and exponential functions, calculations supporting those models, a graph visualizing the data, and a reflection on the skills used and challenges encountered during the project. This preview only describes the document’s purpose and scope; it does *not* include the detailed calculations, graphs, or full article summary.