The payout from winning a lottery varies inversely as the number of winners. If Alexis and her 7 co-workers each receive a $4.65 million payout, what would the payout check have been if it was just Alexis and her two favorite co-workers?
A. $111.6 million
B. $13.95 million
C. $16.275 million
D. $12.4 million
Let x be the payout check if it was just Alexis and her two favorite co-workers.
According to the inverse variation, we can write:
payout x number of winners = constant
If we use the initial situation with 8 winners who each receive $4.65 million, we can find the constant:
4.65 million x 8 = 37.2 million
Now we can use the constant to solve for x when there are only 3 winners:
x * 3 = 37.2 million
x = 12.4 million
Therefore, the payout check would have been $12.4 million if it was just Alexis and her two favorite co-workers, option D.