SECTION 2.

4. Solve 2

Business Applications Using Quadratics

151

1 2
1
q 1 1000 5
q 1 10:
10
10
2q2 1 10,000 5 q 1 100
0 5 q2 1 q 2 9900
0 5 1 q 1 100 2 1 q 2 99 2
q 5 2100 or q 5 99

Thus market equilibrium occurs when q 5 99 and p 5 9.9 1 10 5 19.90.

| EXERCISES | 2.3
BREAK-EVEN POINTS AND MAXIMIZATION
1. The total costs for a company are given by
C 1 x 2 5 2000 1 40x 1 x2

and the total revenues are given by

R 1 x 2 5 130x

Find the break-even points.

2. If a firm has the following cost and revenue functions,
find the break-even points.
1
C 1 x 2 5 3600 1 25x 1 x2,
2
1
R 1 x 2 5 a175 2 xbx
2

3. If a company has total costs C 1 x 2 5 15,000 1 35x 1

0.1x2 and total revenues given by R 1 x 2 5 385x 2 0.9x2,
find the break-even points.
4. If total costs are C 1 x 2 5 1600 1 1500x and total
revenues are R 1 x 2 5 1600x 2 x2, find the break-even
points.
5. Given that P 1 x 2 5 11.5x 2 0.1x2 2 150 and that
production is restricted to fewer than 75 units, find the
break-even points.
6. If the profit function for a firm is given by P 1 x 2 5
21100 1 120x 2 x2 and limitations on space require
that production is less than 100 units, find the breakeven points.
7. Find the maximum revenue for the revenue function
R 1 x 2 5 385x 2 0.9x2.
8. Find the maximum revenue for the revenue function
R 1 x 2 5 1600x 2 x2.
9. If, in a monopoly market, the demand for a product is
p 5 175 2 0.50x and the revenue function is R 5 px,
where x is the number of units sold, what price will
maximize revenue?
10. If, in a monopoly market, the demand for a product
is p 5 1600 2 x and the revenue is R 5 px, where x
is the number of units sold, what price will maximize
revenue?

11. The profit function for a certain commodity is

P 1 x 2 5 110x 2 x2 2 1000. Find the level of production that yields maximum profit, and find the maximum profit.
12. The profit function for a firm making widgets is
P 1 x 2 5 88x 2 x2 2 1200. Find the number of units at
which maximum profit is achieved, and find the maximum profit.
13. (a) Graph the profit function P 1 x 2 5 80x 2 0.1x2 2
7000.
(b) Find the vertex of the graph. Is it a maximum
point or a minimum point?
(c) Is the average rate of change of this function from
x 5 a , 400 to x 5 400 positive or negative?
(d) Is the average rate of change of this function from
x 5 400 to x 5 a . 400 positive or negative?
(e) Does the average rate of change of the profit get
closer to or farther from 0 when a is closer to 400?
14. (a) Graph the profit function P 1 x 2 5 50x 2 0.2x2 2
2000.
(b) Find the vertex of the graph. Is it a maximum
point or a minimum point?
(c) Is the average rate of change of this function from
x 5 a , 125 to x 5 125 positive or negative?
(d) Is the average rate of change of this function from
x 5 125 to x 5 a . 125 positive or negative?
(e) Does the average rate of change of the profit get
closer to or farther from 0 when a is closer to 125?
15. (a) Form the profit function for the cost and revenue
functions in Problem 3, and find the maximum
profit.
(b) Compare the level of production to maximize profit with the level to maximize revenue (see Problem
7). Do they agree?
(c) How do the break-even points compare with the
zeros of P(x)?
16. (a) Form the profit function for the cost and revenue
functions in Problem 4, and find the maximum
profit.
(b) Compare the level of production to maximize profit with the level to maximize revenue (see Problem
8). Do they agree?

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152

CHAPTER 2

Quadratic and Other Special Functions

(c) How do the break-even points compare with the

zeros of P(x)?
17. Suppose a company has fixed costs of $28,000 and variable cost per unit of 25x 1 222 dollars, where x is the
total number of units produced. Suppose further that
the selling price of its product is 1250 2 35x dollars per
unit.
(a) Find the break-even points.
(b) Find the maximum revenue.
(c) Form the profit function from the cost and revenue
functions and find maximum profit.
(d) What price will maximize the profit?
18. Suppose a company has fixed costs of $300 and variable cost per unit of 34x 1 1460 dollars, where x is the
total number of units produced. Suppose further that
the selling price of its product is 1500 2 14x dollars per
unit.
(a) Find the break-even points.
(b) Find the maximum revenue.
(c) Form the profit function from the cost and revenue
functions and find maximum profit.
(d) What price will maximize the profit?
19. The following table gives the total revenues of Cablenet
Communications for selected years.
Year

Total Revenues (millions)

2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013

$63.13
62.91
60.53
60.27
61.10
62.19
63.09
64.90
67.16

Suppose the data can be described by the equation

R 1 t 2 5 0.271t2 2 2.76t 1 67.83

where t is the number of years past 2003.

(a) Use the function to find the year in which revenue
was minimum and find the minimum predicted
revenue.
(b) Check the result from part (a) against the data in
the table.
(c) Graph R(t) and the data points from the table.
(d) Write a sentence to describe how well the function
fits the data.
The data in the table give sales revenues and costs and
expenses for Continental Divide Mining for various
years. Use this table in Problems 20 and 21.

Year

Sales Revenue
(millions)

Costs and Expenses

(millions)

2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013

$2.6155
2.7474
2.934
3.3131
3.9769
4.5494
4.8949
5.1686
4.9593
5.0913
4.7489

$2.4105
2.4412
2.6378
2.9447
3.5344
3.8171
4.2587
4.8769
4.9088
4.6771
4.9025

20. Assume that sales revenues for Continental Divide

Mining can be described by
R 1 t 2 5 20.031t2 1 0.776t 1 0.179

where t is the number of years past 2000.

(a) Use the function to determine the year in which
maximum revenue occurs and the maximum
revenue it predicts.
(b) Check the result from (a) against the data in the
table.
(c) Graph R(t) and the data points from the table.
(d) Write a sentence to describe how well the function
fits the data.
21. Assume that costs and expenses for Continental Divide
Mining can be described by
C 1 t 2 5 20.012t2 1 0.492t 1 0.725

where t is the number of years past 2000.

(a) Use R(t) as given in Problem 20 and form the
profit function (as a function of time).
(b) Use the function from (a) to find the year in which
maximum profit occurs.
(c) Graph the profit function from (a) and the data
points from the table.
(d) Through the decade from 2008 to 2018, does the
function project increasing or decreasing profits?
Do the data support this trend (as far as it goes)?
(e) How might management respond to this kind of
projection?
SUPPLY, DEMAND, AND MARKET EQUILIBRIUM
In Problems 2224, a supply function and a demand
function are given. (a) Sketch the first-quadrant portions
of those functions on the same set of axes. (b) Label the
market equilibrium point. (c) Algebraically determine
the market equilibrium point.
22. Supply: p 5 q2 1 8q 1 16
Demand: p 5 216 2 2q
23. Supply: p 5 14q2 1 10
Demand: p 5 86 2 6q 2 3q2

Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.

SECTION 2.4

24. Supply: p 5 q2 1 8q 1 22
1 2
4q

Demand: p 5 198 2 4q 2
25. If the supply function for a commodity is
p 5 q2 1 8q 1 16 and the demand function is
p 5 23q2 1 6q 1 436, find the equilibrium quantity
and equilibrium price.
26. If the supply function for a commodity is
p 5 q2 1 8q 1 20 and the demand function is
p 5 100 2 4q 2 q2, find the equilibrium quantity and
equilibrium price.
27. If the demand function for a commodity is given by
the equation p2 1 4q 5 1600 and the supply function
is given by the equation 300 2 p2 1 2q 5 0, find the
equilibrium quantity and equilibrium price.
28. If the supply and demand functions for a commodity are given by 4p 2 q 5 42 and 1 p 1 2 2 q 5 2100,
respectively, find the price that will result in market
equilibrium.
29. If the supply and demand functions for a commodity are given by p 2 q 5 10 and q 1 2p 2 10 2 5 2100,
what is the equilibrium price and what is the corresponding number of units supplied and demanded?

OBJECTIVES

Special Functions and Their Graphs

153

30. If the supply and demand functions for a certain product are given by the equations 2p 2 q 1 6 5 0 and
1 p 1 q 2 1 q 1 10 2 5 3696, respectively, find the price
and quantity that give market equilibrium.
31. The supply function for a product is 2p 2 q 2 10 5 0,
while the demand function for the same product is
1 p 1 10 2 1 q 1 30 2 5 7200. Find the market equilibrium point.
32. The supply and demand for a product are given by
2p 2 q 5 50 and pq 5 100 1 20q, respectively. Find
the market equilibrium point.
33. For the product in Problem 31, if a $22 tax is placed on
production of the item, then the supplier passes this
tax on by adding $22 to his selling price. Find the new
equilibrium point for this product when the tax is passed
on. (The new supply function is given by p 5 12q 1 27.)
34. For the product in Problem 32, if a $12.50 tax is placed
on production and passed through by the supplier, find
the new equilibrium point.

2.4

To graph and apply basic

functions, including constant
and power functions
To graph and apply
polynomial and rational
functions
To graph and apply absolute
value and piecewise defined
functions

Special Functions and Their Graphs

| APPLICATION PREVIEW |
The average cost per item for a product is calculated by dividing the total cost by
the number of items. Hence, if the total cost function for x units of a product is
C 1 x 2 5 900 1 3x 1 x2

and if we denote the average cost function by C 1 x 2 , then

C1x2 5

C1x2
900 1 3x 1 x2
5
x
x

This average cost function is a special kind of function, called a rational function.
We can use this function to find the minimum average cost. (See Example 4.)
In this section, we discuss polynomial, rational, and other special functions.

Basic Functions

The special linear function

y 5 f 1x2 5 x

is called the identity function (see Figure 2.17(a) on the next page), and a linear function
defined by
y 5 f 1x2 5 C

C a constant

is called a constant function. Figure 2.17(b) shows the graph of the constant function
y 5 f 1 x 2 5 2. (Note that the slope of the graph of any constant function is 0.)

Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.