Cab companies often charge a flat fee for picking someone up and then charge an
additional fee per mile driven. Pick a U.S. city and research the rates of two
different cab companies in that city. Find companies that charge different amounts
per mile and have different flat fees.
Task 1
a. For the first company, express in words the amount the cab company
charges per ride and per mile.
b. Write an equation in slope-intercept, point-slope, or standard form. Explain
why you chose the form you did.
c. What do the x-intercept and y-intercept mean in the context of this problem?
Hint: What do you pay when you step into the cab?
Task 2
For the second company, express in a table the cost of the cab ride given the
number of miles provided.
Number
of Miles
0 1 2 3 4 5
Total
Cost
(dollars)
a. Write an equation in slope-intercept, point-slope, or standard form. Explain
why you chose the form you did.
b. What does the slope mean in the context of the problem?
Task 3
Cabs use a valuable commodity—gas! Research average gas prices from 2005–
2015 for the city you chose.
a. Create a table showing the average gas price each year.
b. Create a scatter plot of the data in your table.
c. What equation models the data? What are the domain and range of
the equation? Explain how you determined your answers.
d. Is there a trend in the data? Does there seem to be a positive correlation, a
negative correlation, or neither?
How much do you expect gas to cost in 2020? Explain.