Write a system of equations to describe the situation below, solve using substitution, and fill in the blanks.Denise has a home-based business making and selling scented soaps. She intially spent $98 to purchase soap-making equipment, and the materials for each pound of soap cost $8. Denise sells the soap for $15 per pound. Eventually, she will sell enough soap to cover the cost of the equipment. How much soap will that be? What will be Denise's total sales and costs be?Once Denise sells _____ pounds of soap, her sales and costs will both be $_____.
Q. Write a system of equations to describe the situation below, solve using substitution, and fill in the blanks.Denise has a home-based business making and selling scented soaps. She intially spent $98 to purchase soap-making equipment, and the materials for each pound of soap cost $8. Denise sells the soap for $15 per pound. Eventually, she will sell enough soap to cover the cost of the equipment. How much soap will that be? What will be Denise's total sales and costs be?Once Denise sells _____ pounds of soap, her sales and costs will both be $_____.
Define Variables: Let's define the variables:Let x be the number of pounds of soap Denise sells.Denise's total cost (C) for making x pounds of soap includes the initial equipment cost and the cost of materials per pound.Denise's total sales (S) come from selling the soap at a certain price per pound.We can write two equations to represent the total cost and total sales:Total cost equation: C=initial cost+(cost per pound×number of pounds)Total sales equation: S=price per pound×number of pounds
Write Equations with Given Numbers: Now let's write the equations with the given numbers:Initial cost = $98Cost per pound = $8Price per pound = $15C=98+8xS=15x
Find Break-Even Point: Denise will break even when her total sales equal her total costs. So we set the cost equation equal to the sales equation to find the break-even point:98+8x=15x
Solve for x: Now we solve for x:15x−8x=987x=98x=798x=14Denise needs to sell 14 pounds of soap to cover her initial costs.
Calculate Total Sales and Costs: To find the total sales and costs when Denise sells 14 pounds of soap, we substitute x=14 into the sales equation:S=15xS=15×14S=210So Denise's total sales and costs will both be $210 when she sells 14 pounds of soap.
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