a . Average rate of change between 2002 and 2004 can be calculated below
[tex]\begin{gathered} average\text{ rate of change=}\frac{chang\text{e in y}}{\text{change in x}} \\ average\text{ rate of change = }\frac{77-83}{2004-2002} \\ average\text{ rate of change}=\frac{-6}{2}=-3(thousand) \end{gathered}[/tex]
b. Average rate of change between 2002 and 2006 is
[tex]\begin{gathered} \text{average rate of change = }\frac{78-83}{2006-2002} \\ average\text{ rate of change}=\frac{-5}{4}=-\frac{5}{4}(thousand) \end{gathered}[/tex]