tshirt selling price: 12.99, 15, 16.99, 19.99, 24.99

monthly profit: 3640, 3910, 4102, 3920, 2785
Jazz is starting a T-shirt company and is trying to decide on a selling price that will cover all her expenses. After collecting data from several other similar T-shirt companies, she modeled the data with the rounded regression equation y=−22.64x^2+789.35x−2,804.54 ,  which shows monthly profits made at specific selling prices in dollars. If Jazz’s monthly expenses are $4,000, then find the interval of selling prices for T-shirts that will allow these expenses to be covered. That is, find the interval of selling prices that will result in monthly profits greater than or equal to $4,000. Round values to the nearest hundredth. Enter the smaller value first.
By setting T-shirt selling prices between $__ and $__, Jazz will be able to cover all her business’s monthly expenses.

1 answer

To find the interval of selling prices that will allow Jazz to cover her monthly expenses of $4,000, we need to solve the inequality:

\[ y = -22.64x^2 + 789.35x - 2804.54 \geq 4000 \]

First, we rearrange the inequality:

\[ -22.64x^2 + 789.35x - 2804.54 - 4000 \geq 0 \]

This simplifies to:

\[ -22.64x^2 + 789.35x - 6804.54 \geq 0 \]

Next, we can multiply the entire inequality by -1 (which reverses the inequality):

\[ 22.64x^2 - 789.35x + 6804.54 \leq 0 \]

Now, we need to find the roots of the quadratic equation:

\[ 22.64x^2 - 789.35x + 6804.54 = 0 \]

Using the quadratic formula \(x = \frac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^2 - 4ac}}{2a}\), where \(a = 22.64\), \(b = -789.35\), and \(c = 6804.54\):

  1. Calculate the discriminant:

\[ D = b^2 - 4ac = (-789.35)^2 - 4(22.64)(6804.54) \]

\[ D \approx 622,495.6225 - 615,162.4864 \approx 6,333.1361 \]

  1. Calculate the roots:

\[ x = \frac{789.35 \pm \sqrt{6333.1361}}{2 \cdot 22.64} \]

\[ \sqrt{6333.1361} \approx 79.6 \]

Now, substituting in for \(x\):

\[ x_1 = \frac{789.35 + 79.6}{45.28} \approx \frac{868.95}{45.28} \approx 19.22 \] \[ x_2 = \frac{789.35 - 79.6}{45.28} \approx \frac{709.75}{45.28} \approx 15.70 \]

So, the roots of the quadratic are approximately \(x_1 \approx 19.22\) and \(x_2 \approx 15.70\). Since the parabola opens downward (the coefficient of \(x^2\) is negative), the values of \(x\) for which the profit is greater than or equal to $4,000 are between the two roots:

Thus, the interval of selling prices for T-shirts that will allow Jazz to cover all her business's monthly expenses is:

\[ \text{between } $15.70 \text{ and } $19.22 \]

Therefore, Jazz should set her T-shirt selling prices between $15.70 and $19.22.