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A researcher who was conducting a study caught, tagged, and released 9595 opossums. Weeks later, the researcher caught a total of 170170 opossums, of which 1919 were tagged. To the nearest whole number, what is the best estimate for the opossum population?

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Q. A researcher who was conducting a study caught, tagged, and released 9595 opossums. Weeks later, the researcher caught a total of 170170 opossums, of which 1919 were tagged. To the nearest whole number, what is the best estimate for the opossum population?
  1. Set up proportion: Step 11: Set up the proportion based on the capture-recapture method.\newlineWe know:\newline- Tagged opossums found: 1919\newline- Total opossums caught in second round: 170170\newline- Total opossums tagged initially: 9595\newlineLet NN be the estimated opossum population.\newlineThe proportion is set as:\newline19170=95N\frac{19}{170} = \frac{95}{N}
  2. Solve for N: Step 22: Solve for N by cross-multiplying.\newlineCross-multiplying gives:\newline19×N=95×17019 \times N = 95 \times 170
  3. Continue solving for N: Step 33: Continue solving for N.\newline19×N=1615019 \times N = 16150\newlineN=1615019N = \frac{16150}{19}\newlineN=850N = 850

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