Question

Ian is a salesperson who sells computers at an electronics store. He makes a base payof $80 each day and then is paid a $5 commission for every computer sale he makes.Make a table of values and then write an equation for P, in terms of x, representingIan's total pay on a day on which he sells x computers.

Answer 1

`P=5x+80`

Step-by-step explanation

Let the number of computers sold be x.

Let the total pay be P.

We have to find the equation that represents the total pay in terms of the number of computers sold.

The equation that represents the total pay is a linear equation and a linear equation has a general form of:

`y=mx+b`

where m = slope

b = y intercept

To find the slope, we have to apply the formula:

`m=(y_2-y_1)/(x_2-x_1)`

where (x1, y1) and (x2, y2) are two sets of points from the table.

Let us pick (0, 80) and (3, 95)

Therefore, the slope, m, is:

`\begin{gathered} m=(95-80)/(3-0) \\ m=(15)/(3) \\ m=5 \end{gathered}`

Now, we apply the point-slope formula to find the equation:

`P-P_1=m(x-x_1)`

Note: P is used in place of y (the dependent variable)

Therefore, we have:

`\begin{gathered} P-80=5(x-0) \\ P-80=5x \\ \Rightarrow P=5x+80 \end{gathered}`

That is the equation that represents the total pay, P.