Question

The two islands shown below with the given areas have the same population. Which has the greater population density? Explain. The first island has an area of 486 mi squared and the second has an area of 532 mi squared. The island on the___ has the greater population density because this island has the same number of people living in a___ area, so there will be___ people per square mile.
1. left or right
2. smaller or larger
3.fewer or more

Answer 1

In science, density is the amount of mass per unit volume. Similarly, in economics, population density is the amount of population per unit area. That will be our basis in answering the questions for this problem.

Since there is no diagram given, I can't distinguish which island is in the left or right. I'll just assume that the first island is on the left, while the second island is on the right. Assuming they have the same population, the density would only have to matter with the area. From the given definition of population density, we write it in equation as:

Density = Population/Area

So if the area is large, the density would consequently be smaller. Therefore, you can see in the equation that density and area are inversely proportional to each other. We can deduce that the first island with the smaller land area of 486 mi² has a greater population density. When a place has a smaller area, the population density is much greater. Therefore, the answer to #1 is left, the answer to #2 is smaller, and the answer to #3 is more.