Superlesson
Project 4-3
Algebra
Chapter 4
Solving Linear Equations and Inequalities
Many businesses have become successful with just one novel idea. One of those businesses is Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. You can find out some of the things they've done by looking at their Web site.
Part A, Equations and Inequalities
1. Ben & Jerry's is known for their "wild and wacky" ideas. One of those ideas is the Ben & Jerry's jester hat.
a. Open the Ben & Jerry's Web site and find the cost of a Ben and Jerry's jester hat. You will need to scroll to the bottom of the page to find the cost.
b. Look for the Shipping and taxes site. Write an equation to represent your total cost of buying several jester hats if you live in Vermont and the merchandise total is more than $75.00. Let x = the number of hats and C = the total cost.
c. If the cost of fabric for the jester hat is 30% of the retail price, how many hats must Ben & Jerry's sell to meet their $25,000 manufacturing overhead? (Let x = the number of hats.) Hint: To break even, the total expenses must be equal to (or less than) the total income.
Part B, Exploring Inequalities
2. "Phish Food" T-shirts are another Ben & Jerry's idea.
Look at the Phish Food
site and find out how many of these T-shirts must be sold if overhead costs
are $25,000, fabric costs are 40% of the retail price, and the company wants
to make a profit of more than $1 million from T-shirt sales.
Hint: Income - Expenses = Profit.
Part D, Making Connections
3. Set up a spreadsheet showing quantity, item name, cost per item, merchandise
total, tax, shipping, and total price for five different items from the
Ben & Jerry's
gift catalog Web site. Assume you are purchasing one of your first
item, two of your second item, three of your third item and so on. Make
sure to adjust your shipping costs accordingly.