Linear Systems
A comparison of two magazine subscriptions
Situation
An apartment manager is trying to find a magazine company that will deliver however many magazines the people in his apartment want. He is comparing two companies, Smith Inc. and Zines4lyfe . Smith Inc's cost includes a fixed cost of $10 for delivery, along with $3.50 per magazine included, they use the equation c= 3.50p+10. Zines4lyfe's cost includes for a fixed cost of $40, and only charges $2 for each magazine. They use the equation c=2p+40. Both equations use the variable c and p where c represents the total cost of magazines, and p represents the number of pages.
The point of intersection for these two lines is (20, 80). Because the x variable is the number of magazines, 20 is the number of magazines that the lines will intercept at. The y variable is the total cost, the total cost is 80 for both equations when the number of magazines is 20.
Both companies have equivalent prices of $80 when the number of magazines ordered are 20.