Algebra I
View Activity ArchivesActivity:
The Dirty Dawg Salon
Posted on Jan 29, 2009
Topic: Linear Systems
In this activity, students will work through a scenario of a business venture involving washing dogs. They will translate fixed and variable costs to a cost function and make a decision about how much to charge to wash per dog. When the break-even point is found, students must interpret it to answer the question.
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Activity Key Steps:
The Dirty Dawg Salon is your student’s first business endeavor. Students will use the information given to calculate the price per dog wash based on the shampoo cost and determine an expression for the cost function. They will then decide what might be a reasonable price to charge customers
The graph of the two cost and income-related functions reveals the solution for the break-even point. Students will be asked to interpret this ordered pair for understanding of the concept. Students are asked to change the charge per dog wash to $4 to see how the coordinates of the break-even point changes.
A spreadsheet allows students to calculate both the costs and the income for different numbers of dogs washed. The students should be able to visualize when a profit will take place. A different spreadsheet encourages students to create a formula to calculate only profit, but using the previous formulas entered for income and cost.
A Data & Statistics page is provided so that students can see the representation of profit as negative, zero, and positive values. Excellent discussions can be led at this point and many extensions can be offered.