A group of workers is harvesting berries at a constant rate. An equation that represents the number of baskets of berries the workers picked over a period of time, in hours, is y = 2x + 15.
(a) What are the slope and the y-intercept for the equation that represents the number of baskets of berries the workers picked over a period of time?
b) What are the rate of change (slope) and the initial amount (y-intercept)? Explain the meaning of the rate of change and the initial amount for the situation.
(a)
slope = 2
y-intercept = 15
(b)
The rate of change is 2 baskets per hour. In the equation, x is the number of hours, and y is the number of baskets. If you add 1 hour to x, then 2 more is added to the number of baskets. In the equation, you can also see x as the number of 2's that are being added to the number of baskets.
The initial amount is 15 baskets. If no time has passed, the number of hours is 0, and the number of baskets is 15 .