Trucking workers peaked in 2007 but then declined, perhaps for various reasons. Firstly, in 2008, a global crisis led to losses in transport companies, which were forced to reduce employees gradually. Secondly, the US managed to achieve GDP growth rates of 2-3% in 2010-2011 thanks to the government’s stimulus policies, without which the world’s largest economy could have fallen into recession in these years (Weißschnur, 2021). As a result, jobs began to appear; the market was stimulated economically, the purchasing power of consumers and the revenue of employers increased. The strengthening of the dollar likely had a positive impact on the exit from the recession and neighboring countries and local states, which increased the need for cargo transportation due to increased demand.
The concept of a relative or local minimum or maximum often finds application in evaluating any factors in real life, for example, assessing the effectiveness of drugs at the stage of clinical trials in animals and humans (Davis et al., 2018). A specific indicator of health, such as body temperature and pressure, having gone out of its normal range due to an illness, is evaluated. The medicine begins to act as soon as the indicator changes direction towards optimal results. Thus, the moment of onset of action, the period of treatment, and the corresponding effectiveness of the action can be assessed. In the case of an elevated temperature, this moment will represent a local maximum on the graph of temperature versus time.
Functions and graphs of functions are a convenient tool for reflecting quantitative and sometimes qualitative indicators in any study area. Using them, one can observe the dynamics patterns of dependence of variables and values and visualize and formalize various quantities. Interpretation also provides information that may not be obvious without plotting or formalizing it as a function.
References
Davis, B. E., Blais, C. M., & Cockcroft, D. W. (2018). Methacholine challenge testing: comparative pharmacology. Journal of Asthma and Allergy, 11, 89. Web.
Weißschnur, S. (2021). The Proportionality of State Intervention: EU Responses to the Global Economic Crisis, 2008-2020. Springer Nature.