To determine how many staff members she needed, a local coffee shop owner recorded the number of customers that entered the shop each day.

Coffee shop customers

Day Customers

Tuesday 340

Wednesday 425

Thursday 337

Friday 387

Saturday 289

According to the table, what was the rate of change between Wednesday and Friday?

1 answer

To find the rate of change between Wednesday and Friday, we need to calculate the change in the number of customers from Wednesday to Friday, and then divide that by the number of days between those two days.

  1. First, find the number of customers on Wednesday and Friday:

    • Wednesday: 425 customers
    • Friday: 387 customers
  2. Calculate the change in the number of customers: \[ \text{Change in customers} = \text{Customers on Friday} - \text{Customers on Wednesday} = 387 - 425 = -38 \]

  3. Since there are 2 days between Wednesday and Friday, the rate of change can be calculated as: \[ \text{Rate of change} = \frac{\text{Change in customers}}{\text{Number of days}} = \frac{-38}{2} = -19 \]

Therefore, the rate of change between Wednesday and Friday is \(-19\) customers per day.