Question

Ollie is catering a dinner party for more than 26 guests. Each guest has a choice between a vegetarian dinner or a steak dinner. The vegetarian dinner is $20 per plate and the steak dinner is $30 per plate. Ollie can spend no more than $690 on the entire party. If Ollie wants to purchase the most amount of food and still stay within budget, which combination of vegetarian and steak dinners is optimal?

Answer 1

Using the graph that is included, look at the points given. For example (30, 3). There would be 30 vegetarian dishes and 3 steak dinners for a total of 33 meals. If that is plugged into the cost equation 20(30)+3(30) it would equal $690. The next point (33, 1) would cost 20(33) + 30(1) = $690 and but gives 34 meals. However, 34 vegetarian meals would only cost 20(34)=$680 and have 34 meals. 

If both types of meals need to be purchased, 33 vegetarians and 1 steak. If only vegetarians are purchased, the cost is cheaper by $10.