Hello! This is a question from my math practice worksheet, and I have no clue how to solve it. Any and all help is greatly appreciated!
The table shows a hospital’s patient count for two successive days. Write a linear function using the data (with x representing the day number), and then use the model to predict the patient count on Day 3.
Day 1: 295
Day 2: 272
Thank you!!
to get the y-intercept, let x = 0, that would leave you with y = 3
for the x-intercept, let y = 0 , that would leave you with x = 3
if the equation is of the form
Ax + By = C
do the same thing, usually you can do it your head
e.g. 5x + 3y = 20
x-intercept is 4
y-intercept is 20/3
Anyone?
treat it like two ordered pairs
(1,295) and (2,272)
slope = (272 - 295)/(2-1) = - 23
so equation in the form y = mx + b
would be
count = -23x + b , were x is the day number
so using (1,295)
295 = -23(1) + b
b = 318
count = -23x + 318
so on day 3 , x =3
count = -23(3) + 318 = 249
Of course we could have done this without finding the equation. Since there is a decrease of 23 for each day, all we had to do is decrease the count from day 2, which was 272, by 23 to get 272-23 =249
This is a very silly question. How can the number of patients be a linear function where the number of patients decrease by 23 every day ?
It makes no sense.
Thank you so much!! Yes, I agree. This could have just been solved by using subtraction...
May I ask you another question?
of course
Ok! Here it is:
Find the x and y intercepts of the line x+y=3.