The amount a basketball coach spends at a sporting goods store depends on the number of basketballs the coach buys. The situation is represented by the function rule a=17b.

Question

a. Make a table of values and graph the function rule. Is the graph continuous or​ discrete? Explain.
b.
Suppose the coach spent ​$153 before tax. How many basketballs did she​ buy?

Answer 1

a) To make a table of values, we can plug different values of b into the function rule a=17b and find the corresponding values of a:

b
a=17b

0
0

1
17

2
34

3
51

4
68

5
85

6
102

The table of values:

b
a=17b

0
0

1
17

2
34

3
51

4
68

5
85

6
102

To graph the function rule, we can plot the points (b, a) using the values from the table:

graph{17x}

The graph of the function rule is continuous because for any value of b, there is a corresponding value of a.

b) We are given that the coach spent $153 before tax. To find the number of basketballs she bought, we can set up the equation 17b = 153 and solve for b:

17b = 153

b = 153/17

b ≈ 9

The coach bought approximately 9 basketballs.