A school fypically solls 500 yearbooks each year for 850 each. The economios cass does a project and discovers that they can sell 100 more yearbooks for every 85 decrease in price. The revenue for yearbook sales is equal to the number of yearbook sold times the price of the yearbook.

Let x represent the number of 85 decreases in price. If the expression that represents the revenue is written in the form R (x) = (500 + ax) (50 - bx). Find the values of a and b.

1 answer

To find the values of a and b, we can start by writing the revenue expression in terms of x.

Given that for every 85 decrease in price (x decreases by 1), the school can sell 100 more yearbooks. So the total number of yearbooks sold will be 500 + 100x.

The price of the yearbook will decrease by 85 for every decrease in price, so the new price will be 850 - 85x.

Therefore, the revenue function R(x) can be written as:

R(x) = (500 + 100x)(850 - 85x)

Expanding this expression, we get:

R(x) = 500(850) - 500(85x) + 100x(850) - 100x(85x)
R(x) = 425000 - 42500x + 85000x - 8500x^2
R(x) = 425000 + 42500x - 8500x^2

Now we can compare this expression with the given form R(x) = (500 + ax)(850 - bx) to find the values of a and b.

From the comparison, we can see that:
a = 42500
b = 8500

Therefore, the values of a and b are 42500 and 8500 respectively.