Ted researched the price of airline tickets and discovered a correlation between the price of a ticket and the number of miles traveled. After recording his data on a scatter plot, he determined the equation for the line of best fit is y = 300 + 0.45x. What does 300 represent in the equation?

Question

Responses
A the number of miles traveled at 0.45 per milethe number of miles traveled at 0.45 per mile
B the maximum number of miles allowed at 0.45 per milethe maximum number of miles allowed at 0.45 per mile
C the cost of the ticket when the number of miles equals 0the cost of the ticket when the number of miles equals 0
D the cost of the ticket when the number of miles equals 45the cost of the ticket when the number of miles equals 45
E the cost of the ticket when the number of miles equals 300

Answer 1

In the equation \( y = 300 + 0.45x \), where \( y \) represents the cost of the ticket and \( x \) represents the number of miles traveled, the term \( 300 \) represents the cost of the ticket when the number of miles equals \( 0 \).

This means that if no miles are traveled (i.e., when \( x = 0 \)), the cost of the ticket would still be $300.

Therefore, the correct answer is:

C the cost of the ticket when the number of miles equals 0.