In 1780, a French balloonist by the name of Jacques Charles discovered that the volume
of a fixed amount of gas held at a constant pressure is a linear function of its
temperature. In a specific experiment it is observed that if 4 liters of oxygen at 0
Celsius is warmed to 100 Celsius, the volume of the oxygen increases to 5.46
liters.
A) Determine v, the volume of oxygen (in liters) as a function of t, its temperature (in
degrees Celsius). Write your answer in slope-intercept form.
B) What is the volume of 4 liters of oxygen at 80 degrees Celsius?
C) What temperature (in degrees Celsius) is required to cause a volume of 4.2 liters?
Round all values to 4 decimal places.
Jessica works at Acme Manufacturing Company. After 5 years, she was earning $16.00
per hour. After 8 years on the job, she is now earning $20.50 per hour. She has
received exactly the same annual raise each year she has been there.
A) Write a linear function describing her hourly wage, w, as a function of years
worked, y.
B) What was her beginning hourly wage?
A contractor purchases a piece of equipment for $40,000. The equipment requires an
average expenditure of $4.00 per hour for fuel and maintenance, and the operator
is paid $13.00 per hour.
A) Write an equation giving the total cost C of operating this equipment for the first t
hours, including purchasing it.
B) Assuming that customers are charged $25.00 per hour of machine use, write an
equation for the revenue R derived from t hours of use.
C) Use the formula P = R – C to write an equation for the profit, P, derived from the
first t hours of use.
D) Find the number of hours this equipment must be used to break even, i.e. make a
profit of $0. Round your answer to the nearest hour.
Because of a state budget crisis a publicly supported college is being forced to raise
more of its funds from private sources. Their tuition in September 2007 is $6,000;
and over the next 5 years they must gradually raise their tuition until it becomes
$9,000 in September 2012.
A) Find a linear formula for tuition, T, for any school year, s, during the period of
tuition raises. Count school years, s, starting from 2007 as year zero.
B) What is the domain of the function?
C) What is the total tuition for a student starting in September 2008 and finishing in 4
years?
D) How much more would the total tuition be if the student started a year later and
finished in 4 years?