The data in this activity include the number of live births per 1,000 23-year-old women in the United States between 1917 and 1975.  Students create a scatterplot and historically analyze the trends in the data.

Mathematical Topics: Students will interpret birth rates, find the minimum and maximum rates, calculate absolute and relative differences, and create a scatterplot of data, and analyze local slopes in the graph.

Mathematical Thinking: Students will interpret data, analyze trends, compare and contrast birth rates, and predict future birth rates.

Technology: Students will enter data, create formulas, use the MAX and MIN functions, and the Fill option. Students will create a connected scatterplot, change the scale on a graph’s axis, and add new data to an existing graph. Students will also learn how to use Fill to generate a series, copy and paste columns of data and rename worksheets.

A scatterplot of birth rate against year is shown below.