The table below gives the cost per person to rent a fishing charter boat. Find the rate of change given that it is constant. Also, explain what the rate of change means for this situation.

Question

People
2
3
4
5
Cost ($)
110
165
220
275

Answer 1

To find the rate of change, we will calculate the change in cost per person for each additional person in the group.

For Example:
- Going from 2 people to 3 people, the change in cost is $165 - $110 = $55.
- Going from 3 people to 4 people, the change in cost is $220 - $165 = $55.
- Going from 4 people to 5 people, the change in cost is $275 - $220 = $55.

As we can see, the change in cost is consistently $55 for each additional person.

Therefore, the rate of change is $55/person.

In this situation, the rate of change represents how the cost per person increases (or decreases) as the number of people in the fishing charter boat group increases. Specifically, for every additional person added to the group, the cost per person increases by $55.