Question

An account executive receives a base salary plus a commission. On $50,000 in monthly sales, the account executive receives $7000. On $70,000 in monthly sales, the account executive receives $7800.

(a) Determine a linear function that will yield the compensation y of the sales executive for a given amount of monthly sales x
(b) Use this model to determine the account executive's compensation for $75,000 in monthly sales.

a: _____ b: _____

Answer 1

(a) To find the linear function, we need to determine the slope and y-intercept of the line that passes through the two given points: (50000, 7000) and (70000, 7800).

Slope = (change in y)/(change in x) = (7800 - 7000)/(70000 - 50000) = 800/20000 = 0.04

Y-intercept = 7000 - slope * 50000 = 5000

So the linear function that gives the account executive's compensation y for a given amount of monthly sales x is:

y = 0.04x + 5000

(b) To find the account executive's compensation for $75,000 in monthly sales, we can plug x = 75000 into the linear function we found in part (a):

y = 0.04(75000) + 5000 = 8000

So the account executive's compensation for $75,000 in monthly sales is $8,000.