Question

1. You pay $16,000 for a new car whose value decreases by $1500 each year.  

1. Identify the input variable. ________________________________

2. Identify the output variable. _______________________________

3. Write a linear function in symbolic form. ________________________________________.

4. What is the practical meaning of the slope? _______________________________________________

5. What is the practical meaning of the vertical intercept? ________________________________________

Answer 1

1. Input variable here is "time in years"

2. Output variable here is "value of the car"

3. Linear function = y = mx+b ; where 'b' is the vertical intercept and 'm' is the slope.

But here we'd consider 'm' as constant rate of change and 'b' as starting amount

So it would be y = -1500*x + 16000

4. Slope, in practical terms, means changes over the course of time. Like for every one unit change in x-variable, y-variable changes by slope of a unit.

5. Vertical intercept, in practical terms, also refers to the starting value.