Answer: A) intercepts: zero profit; maximum: maximum profit. increasing: x < 4; decreasing x > 4
B) average slope: ≈50, about $50 increased profit for each $1 increase in price.
Step-by-step explanation:
A) The vertical axis of the graph represents profit, so the x-intercepts represent prices that produce zero profit. The maximum value of the graph is the maximum profit that can be obtained for any price.
The function is increasing for all prices below the one producing maximum profit (x < 4). The function is decreasing for all prices above the one producing maximum profit (x > 4). Obviously profit is increasing with price for x < 4, and is decreasing with price for x > 4.
__
B) We read the value of f(1) from the graph to be about 120, so the average rate of change is about ...
(f(4) -f(1))/(4 -1) = (270 -120)/(3) = 50
The average rate of change from x=1 to x=4 is about 50.* This means profit will increase on average $50 for each $1 increase in price in that interval.
_____
* If we take the peak profit to be $270, we can write f(x) as ...
f(x) = 16.875x(x -8)
Then f(1) = 118.125 and the average rate of change is 50.625. For the purpose here, we judge the extra precision to be pointless.
Step-by-step explanation:
