-- They're losing employees . . . so you know that the line will slope down, and its slope is negative;
-- They're losing employees at a steady rate . . . so you know that the slope is the same everywhere on the line; this tells you that the graph is a straight line.
I can see the function right now, but I'll show you how to go through the steps to find the function. I need to point out that these are steps that you've gone through many times, but now that the subject pops up in a real-world situation, suddenly you're running around in circles with your hair on fire screaming "What do I do ? Somebody give me the answer !".
Just take a look at what has already been handed to you:
For the first point, 'x' happens to be zero, so immediately you have your y-intercept ! ' b ' = 65 .
You can use any two of the points to find the slope of the line. You will calculate that the slope is negative-3 . . . which you might have realized as you read the story, looked at the numbers, and saw that they are <u>firing 3 employees per month</u>. ("Losing" them doesn't quite capture the true spirit of what is happening.)
So your function ... call it ' W(n) ' . . . Workforce after 'n' months . . .
