Q:

It takes Matt 20 months to save 1,000. Write an equation that models the average number of dollars, x, Matt saves each month.

Accepted Solution

A:
To solve this we are going to use the slope formula: [tex]m= \frac{y_{2}-y_{1}}{x_{2}-x_{1} } [/tex], and the point slope formula: [tex]y-y_{1}=m(x-x_{1})[/tex]

For our problem we can infer that prior to the 20 months period of saving, he didn't have any savings at all. So our first point [tex](x_{1},y_{1})[/tex] will be (0,0). We know for our problem that after 20 month he saved 1000, so our second point [tex](x_{2},y_{2})[/tex] will be (20,1000).

Now that we have our points, we can use our slope formula to find [tex]m[/tex]:
[tex]m= \frac{y_{2}-y_{1}}{x_{2}-x_{1} } [/tex]
[tex]m= \frac{1000-0}{20-0} [/tex]
[tex]m= \frac{1000}{20} [/tex]
[tex]m=50[/tex]

Now that we have our slope, we can use our point slope formula:
[tex]y-y_{1}=m(x-x_{1})[/tex]
[tex]y-0=50x-0[/tex]
[tex]y=50x[/tex]
Remember that [tex]y[/tex] and [tex]f(x)[/tex] are equivalent, so:
[tex]f(x)=50x[/tex]

Finally, to find the average number of dollars Matt saves each month, we are going to find the average function. To do that we are going to divide our function [tex]f(x)[/tex] by [tex]x[/tex]:
[tex]f(x)_{AV}= \frac{f(x)}{x} [/tex]
[tex]f(x)_{AV}= \frac{50x}{x} [/tex]
[tex]f(x)_{AV}=50[/tex]

We can conclude that the function that models the average number of dollars, x, Matt saves each month is [tex]f(x)_{AV}=50[/tex]