Question

1. Suppose C(x) is a function representing the cost(in dollars) of producing x units energy, and R(x) is a function representing the revenue (in dollars) of selling x units of energy. Suppose further that both functions are continuous for all x > = 0. A. Is there necessarily some x value, let's call it C, that will maximize profit over all x = 0? Explain your answer. B. Suppose we know we can't produce more than 1,000 units of energy. Is there necessarily some x-value, call it C, that will maximize profit over the interval [0,1000]? Explain your answer. C. Again, assume that we can't produce more than 1,000 units of energy. Is there necessarily some x value, let's call it C, for which the profit is exactly 0? Explain your answer.​

Answer 1

Answer:

A.   Yes, there is a value that will maximize the profit overall x values. This is true when the functions C(x), R(x), and P(x) are often defined only for non-negative integers, that is, for x = 0, 1, 2, 3... . The reason is it is not logical to speak about the cost of producing −1 cars or the revenue generated by selling 3.62 refrigerators. Thus, each function may give rise to a set of discrete points on a graph.

The formulas for these questions are:

C(x) = cost of producing x units of the product

R(x) = revenue generated by selling x units of the product

P(x) = R(x) − C(x) = the profit (or loss) generated by producing and (selling x units of the product.)

B.  No, there is not an x-value that will maximize the profit over [0,1000]. This is true since 1,000 is the horizontal asymptote, which means that the line of the graph keeps traveling with the HA until the profits drop since we cannot produce anything more than 1,000 units of energy per day. The graph of this problem would be a horizontal asymptote at y = 1,000. The line of the graph would start at zero and increase until it reaches the asymptote at 1,000 and continues towards infinity.

C.  Yes, there is an x-value that is exactly zero. This is true because zero is our starting point in our profits. The x and y value would be (0,0) as we have just begun to produce energy units. Once the graph starts to increase, we cannot have a point at exactly zero, unless the profits have a dramatic drop to the x value of 0. This would then be (0, at a number of diminishing returns)