Question

Suppose you work as a clerk at a local retail store earning $6 per hour. The amount of your weekly paycheck (before taxes are taken out) could be written F(x) = 6x.
16. What is the independent variable in this function and what does it represent?

Answer 1

Answer:

x is the independent variable and it represents the number of hours worked per week by the clerk.

Step-by-step explanation:

An independent variable refers to a variable in model that is varied or changed in order to examine its effect on another variable. The other variable is called a dependent variable.

A dependent variable is a variable in a model that changes as a result of a change in the independent variable.

From the question, x is the independent variable and its represent the number of hours worked by the clerk.

F(x) represents the amount of your weekly paycheck and it is the dependent variable that changes as the number of hours worked, x, changes.

For example, since we are given:

F(x) = 6x ............................... (1)

Where;

F(x) = = depemdent variable = Amount of weekly paycheck (before taxes are taken out)

6 = coefficient of x = Earning per hour

x = Independent variable = Number of hours worked

Assuming x = 1, we can substitute this into equation (1) and have:

F(x) = 6 * 1 = $6

But when x = 2, we have:

F(x) = 6 * 2 = $12

Therefore, the dependent variable F(x) changes from $6 weekly to $12 weekly as the independent variable x changes form 1 hour to 2 hours weekly.