The following list gives the gross federal debt(in millions of dollars) for the U.S. every 5 years from 1945 to 2000: Year Gross Federal Debt ($millions) 1945 260,123 1950 256,853 1955 274,366 1960...

• The following list gives the gross federal debt(in millions of dollars) for the U.S. every 5 years from 1945 to 2000:

Year    Gross Federal Debt ($millions)

1945    260,123

1950    256,853

1955    274,366

1960    290,525

1965    322,318

1970    380,921

1975    541,925

1980    909,050

1985    1,817,521

1990    3,206,564

1995    4,921,005

2000    5,686,338

• Construct a scatter plot with this data. Do you observe a trend? If so, what type of trend do you observe?


• Use Excel to fit a linear trend and an exponential trend to the data. Display the models and their respective r^2.


• Interpret both models. Which model seems to be more approprate and why?