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Mary Magnolia wants to open a flower shop, the Petal Pusher, in a new mall. She has her choice of three different floor sizes, 200 square feet, 500 square feet, or 1,000 square feet. The monthly rent will be $1 a square foot. Mary estimates that if she has F square feet of floor space and sells y bouquets a month, her variable costs will be cv(y) = y^ 3/ 4F per month.

Required:
a. If she has 200 square feet of floor space, write down her marginal cost function and her average cost function. At what amount of output is average cost minimized? At this level of output, how much is average cost?
b. If she has 500 square feet, write down her marginal cost function and her average cost function. At what amount of output is average cost minimized? At this level of output, how much is average cost? .
c. If she has 1,000 square feet of floor space, write down her marginal cost function and her average cost function. At what amount of output is average cost minimized? At this level of output, how much is average cost?

1 Answer

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Answer:

a-1. We have:

MC = 3y^2 / 800 <=== Marginal cost (MC) function

AC = (200 / y) + (y^2 / 800) <=== Average cost (AC) function

a-2. The amount of output is 43.09 bouquets.

a-3. Average cost at this level is $6.96 per unit.

b-1. We have:

MC = 3y^2 / 2,000 <=== Marginal cost (MC) function

AC = (500 / y) + (y^2 / 2,000) <=== Average cost (AC) function

b-2. The amount of output is 79.37 bouquets.

b-3. Average cost at this level is $9.45 per unit.

c-1. We have:

MC = 3y^2 / 4,000 <=== Marginal cost (MC) function

AC = (1,000 / y) + (y^2 / 4,000) <=== Average cost (AC) function

c-2. The amount of output is 125.99 bouquets.

c-3. Average cost at this level is $11.91 per unit.

Step-by-step explanation:

Given:

cv(y) = y^3/ 4F ………………… (1)

cf = fixed cost = F

Therefore, total cost (C) per month is as follows:

C(y) = cf + cv(y) = y^ 3/ 4F

C(y) = F + y^3 / 4F ……………………… (2)

a-1. If she has 200 square feet of floor space, write down her marginal cost function and her average cost function.

This implies that:

F = 200

Marginal cost (MC) function is obtained by taking the first derivative of equation (1) and substituting F = 200 as follows:

MC = cv’(y)

MC = 3y^2 / (4 * 200)

MC = 3y^2 / 800 ………………. (3) <= Marginal cost (MC) function

Average cost (AC) function can be obtained by dividing equation (2) by y, substituting F = 200 and solve as follows:

AC = C’(y) = (200 / y) + (y^3 / 4F) / y

AC = (200 / y) + (y^3 / (4 * 200)) / y

AC = (200 / y) + (y^2 / 800) …………………. (4) <= Average cost (AC) function

a-2. At what amount of output is average cost minimized?

Since average cost is minimized when MC = AC, we therefore equate equations (3) and (4) and solve for y as follows:

3y^2 / 800 = (200 / y) + (y^2 / 800)

0.00375y^2 = (200 / y) + 0.00125y^2

0.00375y^2 - 0.00125y^2 = 200 / y

0.0025y^2 = 200 / y

(0.0025y^2)y = 200

0.0025y^3 = 200

y^3 = 200 / 0.0025

y^3 = 80,000

y = 80,000^(1/3)

y = 43.09

Therefore, the amount of output at which is average cost minimized is 43.09 bouquets.

a-3. At this level of output, how much is average cost?

Substituting y = 43.09 into equation (4), we have:

AC = (200 / 43.09) + (43.09^2 / 800)

AC = 6.96

Therefore, average cost at this level is $6.96 per unit.

b-1. If she has 500 square feet, write down her marginal cost function and her average cost function.

This implies that:

F = 500

Marginal cost (MC) function is obtained by taking the first derivative of equation (1) and substituting F = 500 as follows:

MC = cv’(y)

MC = 3y^2 / (4 * 500)

MC = 3y^2 / 2,000 ………………. (5) <= Marginal cost (MC) function

Average cost (AC) function can be obtained by dividing equation (2) by y, substituting F = 500 and solve as follows:

AC = C’(y) = (500 / y) + (y^3 / (4 * 500)) / y

AC = (500 / y) + (y^3 / (4 * 500)) / y

AC = (500 / y) + (y^2 / 2,000) …………………. (6) <= Average cost (AC) function

b-2. At what amount of output is average cost minimized?

Since average cost is minimized when MC = AC, we therefore equate equations (5) and (6) and solve for y as follows:

3y^2 / 2,000 = (500 / y) + (y^2 / 2,000)

0.0015y^2 = (500 / y) + 0.0005y^2

0.0015y^2 - 0.0005y^2 = 500 / y

0.001y^2 = 500y

0.001y^2 * y = 500

0.001y^3 = 500

y^3 = 500 / 0.001

y^3 = 500,000

y = 500,000^(1/3)

y = 79.37

Therefore, the amount of output at which is average cost minimized is 79.37 bouquets.

b-3. At this level of output, how much is average cost?

Substituting y = 79.37 into equation (6), we have:

AC = (500 / 79.37) + (79.37^2 / 2,000)

AC = 9.45

Therefore, average cost at this level is $9.45 per unit.

c-1. If she has 1,000 square feet, write down her marginal cost function and her average cost function.

This implies that:

F = 1,000

Marginal cost (MC) function is obtained by taking the first derivative of equation (1) and substituting F = 1,000 as follows:

MC = cv’(y)

MC = 3y^2 / (4 * 1,000)

MC = 3y^2 / 4,000 ………………. (7) <= Marginal cost (MC) function

Average cost (AC) function can be obtained by dividing equation (2) by y, substituting F = 1,000 and solve as follows:

AC = C’(y) = (1,000 / y) + (y^3 / (4 * 1,000)) / y

AC = (1,000 / y) + (y^3 / (4,000)) / y

AC = (1,000 / y) + (y^2 / 4,000) …………………. (8) <= Average cost (AC) function

c-2. At what amount of output is average cost minimized?

Since average cost is minimized when MC = AC, we therefore equate equations (7) and (8) and solve for y as follows:

3y^2 / 4,000 = (1,000 / y) + (y^2 / 4,000)

0.00075y^2 = (1,000 / y) + 0.00025y^2

0.00075y^2 - 0.00025y^2 = 1,000 / y

0.0005y^2 = 1,000 / y

0.0005y^2 * y = 1,000

y^3 = 1,000 / 0.0005

y^3 = 2,000,000

y = 2,000,000^(1/3)

y = 125.99

Therefore, the amount of output at which is average cost minimized is 125.99 bouquets.

c-3. At this level of output, how much is average cost?

Substituting y = 125.99 into equation (8), we have:

AC = (1,000 / 125.99) + (125.99^2 / 4,000)

AC = 11.91

Therefore, average cost at this level is $11.91 per unit.

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