SOLUTION: Each week 5 new office phones are installed in a major network company. At the beginning of March, 200 phones had already been installed. Write a linear equation to model this situ
Question 1166940: Each week 5 new office phones are installed in a major network company. At the beginning of March, 200 phones had already been installed. Write a linear equation to model this situation. Do not use spaces in the equation. Answer by Theo(13342) (Show Source):
in this problem:
y = the total number of phones that are installed
x = the number of weeks from march 1.
on march 1, x = 0.
this makes the y-intercept of the equation equal to 200 because the y-intercept is the value of y when x = 0.
when x = 0, the equation becomes y = m*0 + b which simplifies to y = b.
the equation becomes y=m*x+200
each week, 5 new phones are installed.
this makes m = 5.
the equation becomes y=5x+200
that should be your solution.
when x = 0, y = 200
when x = 1, y = 205
when x = 2, y = 210
when x = 10, y = 250
etc.....
x = 0 means march 1.
x = 1 means 1 week after march 1.
x = 2 means 2 weeks after march 1.
x = 10 means 10 weeks after march 1.
etc.....
the equation can be graphed as shown below.
the actual dates can be found as follows:
x = 0 is march 1
x = 1 is march 8
x = 2 is march 15
x = 10 is may 10
etc.....
you just look at the calendar and count the weeks from march 1.
