Widget Wonders produces widgets. They have found that the cost, c(x), of making x widgets is a quadratic function in terms of x.

The company also discovered that it costs $15.50 to produce 3 widgets, $23.50 to produce 7 widgets, and $56 to produce 12 widgets.

Find the total cost of producing 5 widgets.

Question

Widget Wonders produces widgets. They have found that the cost, c(x), of making x widgets is a quadratic function in terms of x.

The company also discovered that it costs $15.50 to produce 3 widgets, $23.50 to produce 7 widgets, and $56 to produce 12 widgets.

Find the total cost of producing 5 widgets.

perl · Answer

so you are given three 'points' of the quadratic curve

perl · Answer

(x,y)  = (# widgets, total cost)

( 3, 15.50) , (7, 23.50) , ( 12, 56 )

anonymous · Answer

I'm having trouble remembering how to plug it into the quadratic formula to solve :(

perl · Answer

now you use TI 83 calculator to find the quadratic curve

y = 0.5*x^2 -3*x + 20

perl · Answer

this is a problem of curve fitting, you have three points you want to fit to a quadratic function