There are 35,000 bats roosting in a pyramid-shaped vaulted cave ceiling that has a height of 30 meters and a rectangular floor that measures 75 by 100 meters. What is the average density of the bat population in the cave? Make sure that the density is a number that reflects the fact that the bat population is measured in counting numbers.

[list=1][br][*]Calculate the volume of the cave.[br][*]Calculate the volume density of the bats in the cave.[br][*]Determine the domain of the bat population.[br][*]Suggest a different basic volume unit that will result in a bat density measured in positive integers.[br][*]Use the response to step 4 to calculate a more realistic value for the bat density.[br][*]Compare the number of bats predicted by the result of step 5 to the number of bats given in the problem.[br][/list][br][br]This applet is provided by Walch Education as supplemental material for their mathematics programs. Visit [url=http://www.walch.com]www.walch.com[/url] for more information.