Question

Carl has been recording the number of pears on his pear tree each week: Week Pears 6 32 7 37 8 42 9 47 The function representing Carl's pears per week is f(w) = 5w + 2. What does the 2 represent?

Answer 1

The function 5w+2 is set up like a slope intercept form function (y=mx+b) where the function of w would b the number of pears each week, 5 is the slope, and 2 is the y-intercept.  One could assume that the number of pears increases each week by a factor of five and the 2 is the initial 2 pears on the tree from when Carl started watching the tree grow.

Answer 2

Just like the other answer said, it can be assumed that 2 is the initial 2 pears on the tree from when Carl started watching the tree grow. Which means that 2 is the number of pears at the start. Not sure why that answer got such bad ratings as it clearly answered the question.