Heart Disease and Cancer : Plotting Graphs Using Excel, Trends and Making Predictions

You have been invited to present statistical information at a conference. To prepare, you must perform the following tasks:

The following data was retrieved from www.cdc.gov. It represents the number of deaths in the United States due to heart Disease and cancer in each of the years; 1985, 1990, 1995, and 2002.

The first chart is for all four years.
The second chart is on for 1985 and 2002.

PLEASE REVIEW THE QUESTION CLOSELY IF YOU ARE GOING TO RESPOND.
Thanks much for your assistance.

Year

Disease 1985 1990 1995 2002
Heart Disease 771169 720058 737563 696,947
Cancer 461563 505322 538445 557,271

Plot this data for each disease as points in a rectangular coordinate system.
Using a smooth line, connect your data points for each disease.
On a separate graph, plot only the years 1985 and 2002 and connect the points with a straight line.
Calculate the slope of each line.
Write the equation of each line in the slope-intercept form.
Using the equations of each line, make a reasonable prediction as to the number of deaths we might expect in 2005 due to each of these medical conditions.

Please include a response to this two part follow-up question with your submission.

Can the graphs that you constructed be classified as functions? Explain.
Why is it reasonable that negative numbers are excluded from both the domain and the range of each of the disease graphs? What would the real-world implications be if these numbers were actually part of the domain and/or range?