The table shows the numbers N (in thousands) of U. S. military reserve personnel for the years 1997 through 2003.

Year
Number, N
1997
1474
1998
1382
1999
1317
2000
1277
2001
1249
2002
1222
2003
1189

A model for the data is given by

where t represents the year, with t = 7 corresponding to 1997.

Use a graphing utility to create a scatter plot of the data and graph the model in the same screen. How well does the model fit the data?
Use the model to predict the number of military reserve personnel in 2006.
What is the limit of the function as t approaches infinity? Explain the meaning of the limit in the context of the problem. Do you think the limit is realistic? Explain.