A university project that enrollments are going to decline as the pool of college-aged applicants begins to shrink. They have estimated the number of applications for coming years to behave according to the function

                                    a = f(t) = 6,500 – 250t

1. where a equals the number of applications for admission to the university and t equals time in years measured from this current year (t = 0).

• What class of function is this?
• What is the expected number of applications 5 years from today? 10 years?

• Do you think this function is accurate as a predictor indefinitely into the future?

• What kinds of factor would influence the restricted domain on t?