Question: The table below gives the number of male and female employees in the United States and the median earnings (in thousands of 2006 dollars) of full-time, year-round workers for males and females for selected years from 1970 to 2006. To investigate the equity of employment for females:

a) Find the quadratic function y = f(x) that models the number of employed males as a function of the number of years from 1970.

b) Find the linear function y = g(x) that models the number of employed females as a function of the number of years from 1970.

c) Graph y = f(x) and y =g(x) to determine if the number of female workers will equal the number of male workers. If so, estimate the year when the number of female workers will equal the number of male workers.

d) Calculate the female-to-male earnings ratio for each of the given years, and enter the ratios in the table.

e) Use each of the given years and the corresponding female-to-male earnings ratio to create a quadratic function that models the female-to-male earnings ratio as a function of number of years after 1970.

f) Write an equation to find an estimate of the year when the median female earnings reaches the median male earnings, and solve the equation algebraically.

g) Confirm your solution graphically.