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 a cab company in that city.
Task 1
Express in words the amount the cab company charges per ride and per mile. (Example: Green Cab Company charges a $3 drop charge or flat rate [the cost of the ride], plus $2 per mile.)
Answer:
Write an equation in slope-intercept, point-slope, or standard form. (Example: Slope intercept of Green Cab Company is y = 2x + 3)
Answer
What do the slope and y-intercept mean in the context of this problem? Hint: What do you pay when you step into the cab? (Example: The total cost “y” is 2 per mile “x” plus the $3 drop charge)
Answer
Task 2
Express in a table the cost of the cab ride given the number of miles provided. (Hint: put the number of miles in the “x” of your slope-intercept formula and solve for “y”)
Number of Miles -0 1 2 3 4 5
Total Cost (dollars)
Task 3
Cabs use a valuable commodity—gas! The State of Florida’s gas prices fluctuate each year, just like the rest of the world. Below is a table of the average gas prices each year in Florida.
Average Gas Prices Each Year in the State of Florida
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
3.46
3.53
2.40
2.09
2.55
2.58
2.17
2.57
2.25
3.23
3.34
What are the domain and range of the table (Domain is what we put in “x”, and range is what we get out “y”)?
Domain:Answer
Range:Answer
Is there a trend in the data? Does there seem to be a positive correlation, a negative correlation, or neither (Hint: Positive means the slope is going upward to the right (/), negative means the slope is going down to the right (\), and neither means the slope is not really going in any specific direction)?
Answer
Task 1
The cab company in New York City charges a $2.50 drop charge or flat rate, plus $2.75 per mile driven.
Equation in slope-intercept form: y = 2.75x + 2.50
The slope of 2.75 represents the cost per mile driven, while the y-intercept of 2.50 represents the flat rate charge when getting into the cab.
Task 2
Number of Miles - 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Total Cost (dollars) - $2.50, $5.25, $8, $10.75, $13.50, $16.25
Task 3
Domain: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
Range: $2.09, $2.17, $2.25, $2.40, $2.55, $2.57, $2.58, $3.23, $3.34, $3.46, $3.53
There is a trend in the data showing fluctuating gas prices each year. The data does not show a clear positive or negative correlation.