Question

Jim, an artist, plans to paint and sell some miniature paintings. He just bought some brushes

for $1, and paint and canvas for each painting costs $44; he will sell each painting for $45.
Once Jim sells a certain number of his paintings, he will be breaking even. How much will Jim
have earned? How many paintings will that be?

Answer 1

Explanation:

To break even, Jim's total revenue from selling his paintings should be equal to his total cost of producing them, including the cost of materials and the cost of the brushes. Let's call the number of paintings he needs to sell to break even as "x".

The cost of producing each painting is $44 + $1 = $45.

The revenue from selling each painting is $45.

So, Jim's total revenue from selling x paintings would be:

Total revenue = Price per painting x Number of paintings sold

Total revenue = $45 x x

Total revenue = $45x

Jim's total cost of producing x paintings would be:

Total cost = Cost per painting x Number of paintings produced + Cost of brushes

Total cost = $45 x x + $1

Total cost = $45x + $1

For Jim to break even, his total revenue must equal his total cost:

Total revenue = Total cost

$45x = $45x + $1

Solving for x:

$45x - $45x = $1

0 = $1

This is a contradiction, meaning that the situation is impossible. It is impossible for Jim to break even by selling his paintings at the given prices. If he sells each painting at $45, which is the same price he paid to produce it, he will not make any profit. In fact, he will lose $1 for every painting he sells due to the cost of the brushes.

If Jim wants to break even or make a profit, he will need to increase the selling price of his paintings or find ways to reduce the cost of producing them.

Answer 2

Explanation:

Let's begin by calculating Jim's total cost for creating one painting:

Cost of paint and canvas + Cost of brushes = $44 + $1 = $45

This means that Jim makes a profit of $45 - $45 = $0 per painting sold until he breaks even.

To determine how many paintings Jim needs to sell to break even, we can set up an equation:

Total Cost = Total Revenue

Let's say Jim sells x paintings. Then his total revenue would be:

Total Revenue = $45x

His total cost would be the cost of materials plus the cost of brushes multiplied by the number of paintings:

Total Cost = $45 + $1)x = $46x

Setting these equal, we get:

$46x = $45x

Solving for x, we get:

x = 45

So Jim needs to sell 45 paintings to break even.

Once he has sold 45 paintings, he will have earned:

Total Revenue = $45 x 45 = $2025

So Jim will have earned $2025 after selling 45 paintings.