In: Math
The number of male alates (winged ants) in an ant colony has been found to be approximately a linear function of the age of the colony, with a
66-year-old
colony having
8.78.7
alates on average, and a
1818-year-old
colony having
30.330.3
alates on average.
| 
 a.  | 
 Write the number of male alates (y) as a linear function of the age of the colony in years (t).  | 
| 
 b.  | 
A
 oneone-year-old colony typically has no alates. What does the formula found in part a predict? | 
| 
 c.  | 
Assuming that the linear function found in part a continues to
be accurate, how old would a colony be expected to be before it
has about
 4141 male alates? | 
a.
yequals=nothing

in part b we get a negative value of male alates.This indicates that at t =11 years formation of alates has not started.The process of colony formation started after 11 years old .To fin it excat we will put in equation y=0 from this we get time t =13.72839506 years.Hence colony formation started at this age.The value which is negative we get in part b is just a point on the equation line extended.