Question

How do geographers describe the distribution of people across the United States

Answer 1

Non-proportion. the distribution along the US lands is easy to find. Look at a list of the states and their respective population and landmass. If provided also look at the density of each state. The density of each state shows how many people reside in 1 sq mi.

Looking at the list, you see a flux between the statistics. You see the states on the eastern side of the country have a higher density.

The reason I describe the distribution as non-proportional is because a proportional distribution is binded to have the same, if not similar, density with in all the states. You can also express this proportionality with a function, that would have been in the form of y=mx. m would represent the number of people per sq mi and x would be the number of square miles. Some flux would have been present but very mild.

Since the flux in reality is not mild but very noticible, I would call the distribution 'non-proportionate'.