Question

Assume you want to start a business selling ice cream cones. The ice cream machine costs $100.00. Each cone you sell costs you $1.00 in time and materials. Explain how you can use algebra to figure out how many cones you need to sell at what price to pay for the machine. Identify the variables you need to consider. You do not need to solve the problem but you must explain in detail how you would solve it

Answer 1

To figure out how many ice cream cones you need to sell at what price in order to pay for the machine, you can set up an equation using algebra.

First, you need to consider the variables involved in this scenario:
- Cost of the ice cream machine: $100.00
- Cost of making each cone: $1.00
- Price at which you sell each cone: Let's call this variable "p"
- Number of cones you need to sell: Let's call this variable "n"

Now, we can set up an equation to represent the total cost of the machine being equal to the revenue generated from selling cones:
Total cost = Total revenue
$100.00 + $1.00n = p*n

In this equation, $100.00 represents the initial cost of the ice cream machine, $1.00n represents the cost of making each cone multiplied by the number of cones, and p*n represents the price at which you sell each cone multiplied by the number of cones.

To solve for n, you would need to rearrange the equation to solve for n:
$100.00 + $1.00n = p*n
$100.00 = p*n - $1.00n
$100.00 = n(p - $1.00)

Once you have this equation set up, you can plug in the price at which you want to sell each cone (p) and you will be able to calculate the number of cones (n) you need to sell in order to pay for the machine.

By using algebra, you can easily manipulate the variables to determine the most effective price point to sell your ice cream cones in order to cover the cost of the machine.