Question

A company is increasing the number of employees by the same amount each year. In 2010, the company had 502 employees. The company hires an additional 8 employees each year. Write an equation in slope-intercept form to represent the number of employees of the company y as a function of the number of years since 2010, x.

Answer 1

The number of employees of the company as a function of the number of years since 2010 can be represented by the linear equation y = 8x + 502, where x is the number of years since 2010, and y is the total number of employees.

Step-by-step explanation:

To represent the number of employees of the company (y) as a function of the number of years since 2010 (x), we can use the slope-intercept form of a linear equation, which is y = mx + b. In this case, the slope (m) is the rate at which the company is hiring additional employees, which is 8 employees per year. The y-intercept (b) is the number of employees the company had in the baseline year, which is 2010; hence, b is 502.

Therefore, the equation in slope-intercept form is:

y = 8x + 502

This equation indicates that each year (x), the number of employees will increase by 8, starting from the initial count of 502 employees.