The amount a basketball coach spends at a sporting goods store depends on the number of basketballs the coach buys. The situation is represented by the function rule a=17b.
a. Make a table of values and graph the function rule. Is the graph continuous or discrete? Explain.
b.
Suppose the coach spent $153 before tax. How many basketballs did she buy?
a) To make a table of values, we can plug different values of b into the function rule a=17b and find the corresponding values of a:
b
a=17b
0
0
1
17
2
34
3
51
4
68
5
85
6
102
The table of values:
b
a=17b
0
0
1
17
2
34
3
51
4
68
5
85
6
102
To graph the function rule, we can plot the points (b, a) using the values from the table:
graph{17x}
The graph of the function rule is continuous because for any value of b, there is a corresponding value of a.
b) We are given that the coach spent $153 before tax. To find the number of basketballs she bought, we can set up the equation 17b = 153 and solve for b:
17b = 153
b = 153/17
b ≈ 9
The coach bought approximately 9 basketballs.