can someone help me? this is very confusing...?

Question

the question is: Explain how two populations can be the same size but have different densities.

I don't get it. If they're the same size, how can their densities be different?

thanks everyone, i'm getting it now

Answer 1

If you have 100 ppl living in 1 sq mile they have less room then 100 ppl living in 100sq miles, same population but the 1 sq mile ppl are more dense then the 100sq mile ppl. I hope that helped. Great Question though.

Answer 2

"Size" in this case refers to the number (count) of individuals in each population, which is equivalent in this case. "Density" refers to how closely packed the population is.

For example 100 people living in an area of one acre are packed much more densely than 100 people living on 20 acres. The density of the first population is 100:1, while the density of the second is only 5:1.

The confusion you're having is because of the inexactness of the language the questioner chose. A better way of phrasing the question would have been something like "Two populations are equal in number but have different densities. Explain how this might be?"

Answer 3

It's very simple really. Say a population of a million living on an acre of land as opposed to a million people living in an area the size of Texas. Which is more dense? Population density is number of people within a unit area.

Answer 4

For example, New York all of the people are in one place, high density. But it COULD have the same population of say..Columbus, Ohio. But, since the city of Columbus is more spread out, so are the people...so the density is different. But since New York is so compact the density is greater, More people in a smaller area. =)