Question

An enterprising student has set up an internship clearinghouse for business students. Each student who uses the service fills out a form and lists up to 13 companies that he or she would like to have contacted. The clearinghouse has a choice of two methods to use for processing the forms. The traditional method requires about 12 minutes to review the form and arrange the information in the proper order for processing. Once this setup is done, it takes only four minutes per company requested to complete the processing. The other alternative uses an optical scan/retrieve system, which takes only five minutes to prepare but requires four minutes per company for completing the processing.
If it costs about the same amount per minute for processing with either of the two methods, when should each be used?

Answer 1

Answer: See Explanation

Explanation:

Using the first method goes thus:

Form Processing = 12 minutes

Time taken to complete processing = 4 minutes

Total Time for processing will be:

= 12 + (4 × 13)

= 12 + 52

= 64 minutes

Method 2

Form Processing = 5 minutes

Time taken to complete processing = 4 minutes = 4 minutes

Total Time for processing will be:

= 5 + (4 × 13)

= 5 + 52

= 57 minutes

Hence method 2 is better because it's faster as it used a lesser time to process the compared to method 1.