Question

5. Starbucks Corporation in 2012 had annual sales of approximately $13.3 billion and in 2014 had $16.4 billion. (Source:

Starbucks Corporation)
A) What would you estimate the 2013 sales to have been?
B) Assume sales continue increasing in a linear patter, what would you estimate the annual sales be in 2015?
Pls help fast

Answer 1

a. y=1.55(2013)-3105.3= 14.85.

b. y=1.55(2015)-3105.3= 17.95.

Explanation:

On question b we have a glance of what the problem is asking for when it says "increasing in a linear patter". This means that we can craft a mathematical function that represents these values.

Say the years are the variable x and the annual sales (in millions) are the y variable. The problem gives us 2 points of this function:

(2012, 13.3) and (2014, 16.4)

Now, we can find both the slope and formula of the function that represent the behavior of this data.

For the slope:

`M=(y2-y1)/(x2-x1) =(16.4-13.3)/(2014-2012)= 1.55.`

Now, let's find the formula of this function:

`y-y1=m(x-x1)\\\y-16.4=1.55(x-2014)\\\y-16.4=1.55x-3121.7\\y=1.55x-3121.7+16.4\\y=1.55x-3105.3`

Now that we have the function of this data, let's calculate a value for the year 2013.

a. y=1.55(2013)-3105.3= 14.85.

b. y=1.55(2015)-3105.3= 17.95.