Linear Functions

1) A physicist tracked a falling rock and determined a linear relationship between its speed in meters
per second, and time t, measured in seconds. He found the relationship to be s(t) = 19.6t + 8.4.
Which of the following statements is the best interpretation of the number 8.4 in this context?
A. The speed of the rock, in meters per second, at 0 seconds
B. The speed of the rock, in meters per second, at 19.6 seconds
C. The increase in the speed of the rock, in meters per second that corresponds to an
increase of 1 second
D. The increase in the speed of the rock, in meters per second that corresponds to an
increase of 19.6 seconds
2) If a postal service receives pieces of mail in a sorting bin at rate of d pieces per minute and each
piece is in the sorting bin for an average time of M minutes, the average number of pieces of mail
to be sorted, T, at any one time is given by the formula T = 2dM. This relationship is known as
Lyon’s Law.
The manager of the Downtown Post office estimates that during the daytime operation hours an
average of 10 pieces of mail per minute are put in the sorting bin and that each piece remains in
the bin an average of 90 minutes. The manager uses Lyon’s Law to estimate that there are 1800
pieces of mail in the sorting bin at any time.
Lyon’s Law can be applied to any area in the mail delivery process, such as quality control and
delivery. The manager determines that, during its operating hours, approximately 330 pieces of
mail per hour are prepared for delivery and each piece of mail spends an average of 80 minutes
in delivery. At any time during operating hours, about how many pieces of mail, on average, are
in delivery?

3) An author has a 9-page chapter that she initially wrote as a short story. She plans to include this
chapter in a new book and to write 12 additional pages every 2 weeks for 1 year. If one equation
is written in the form of y = ax + b to represent the total number of pages, y, she has for her book
x two-week periods after she began writing her book, what is the value of b?
4) Ed and Emma bought t-shirts during a trip to the city. The total cost of Ed’s shirt was y dollars,
and the total cost of Emma’s shirt was $6 more than the cost of Ed’s shirt. If Ed and Emma
decide to split the cost of the shirts evenly and they received a 10% discount when they paid the
store clerk, which of the following expressions represents the amount, in dollars, each of them
paid? (Assume there is no sales tax.)
A. 0.1y + 0.1
B. 0.5y + 0.5
C. 0.9y + 2.7
D. 1.8y + 54
5) Emman bought a package of Super Sweet Cake Mix to make cupcakes. The directions on the
package specify that one giant cupcake can be made using 4/5 of the package. This cupcake
would contain 18 grams of sugar, 3 of which are grams of sugar from honey. Each giant cupcake
also contains 520 calories, which is 20% of Emman’s recommended daily allowance.
n giant cupcakes from the Sweet Cake Mix provide c percent of Emman’s recommended daily
allowance of calories. Which of the following equations expresses c in terms of n?
A. 𝑐 = 0.2𝑛
B. 𝑐 = 20𝑛
C. 𝑐 = (0.2)
D. 𝑐 = (1.2)
6) The average monthly shipping expenses of a certain small business is $247. The small business
owner plans to purchase a business membership at shipping company, which costs $1000. The
business owner estimates that, after purchasing this membership, the monthly shipping expenses
will then be $163. Which of the following inequalities can be solved to find t, the number of
months after registration at which the total amount of shipping cost savings will exceed the
registration fee?
A. 1000 > (247 - 163)t
B. 1000 < (247 - 163)t
C. 1000 - 247 > 163t
D. 1000 > 𝑡

7) D(S) = 2S – 125
C(S) = 𝑆 + 155

In public education, the annual budget allocated by the district and the annual total cost to the
school are functions of the number of students enrolled in the school. The functions above are the
estimated annual district budget and annual school cost functions for a certain school. The
function D(S) gives the total annual district budget, in thousands of dollars, allocated to the school
for S enrolled students, and the function C(S) gives the total annual cost, in thousands of dollars
to the school for S enrolled students.
How will the total cost to the school, in thousands of dollars, change if the number of students
enrolled is decreased by 40?
A. The total cost will increase by 10 thousand dollars
B. The total cost will decrease by 10 thousand dollars
C. The total cost will decrease by 40 thousand dollars
D. The total cost will decrease by 195 thousand dollars
8) Donna wants to buy new books for her home library. Hardcover books cost $14 each and
paperback books costs $10.50 each. She wants to spend no more than $200 total, but wants to
buy at least 15 books. If x is the number of hardcover books she buys and y is the number of
paperback books she buys, which of the following systems of inequalities represents the situation
in terms of x and y?
A. 𝑥 + 𝑦 ≤ 15, 14𝑥 + 10.50𝑦 ≥ 200
B. 𝑥 + 𝑦 ≤ 15, 14𝑥 + 10.50𝑦 ≤ 200
C. 𝑥 + 𝑦 ≥ 15, 14𝑥 + 10.50𝑦 ≤ 200
D. 𝑥 + 𝑦 ≥ 15, 14𝑥 + 10.50𝑦 ≥ 200
9) Michael works at a store where he sells two types of coffee machines: a regular $50 coffee
machine and a deluxe $100 coffee machine. Last week, his goal was to sell at least 89 total
coffee machines. Although he did not meet his sales goal, the total value of the coffee machines
that he sold was over $8000. Which of the following systems of inequality describes j, the
possible number of $50 regular coffee machines, and k, the possible number of $100 deluxe
coffee machines, that Michael sold last week?
A. 𝑗 + 𝑘 < 89, 50𝑗 + 100𝑘 < 8000
B. 𝑗 + 𝑘 > 89, 50𝑗 + 100𝑘 > 8000
C. 𝑗 + 𝑘 < 89, 50𝑗 + 100𝑘 > 8000
D. 𝑗 + 𝑘 > 89, 50𝑗 + 100𝑘 < 8000
10) Hira is collecting antique stamps for her collection. Her goal is to collect an average of 150
stamps per month for 6 months. She collected 100 stamps the first month, 300 stamps the
second month, 350 stamps the third month, and 200 stamps the fourth month. If she does not
collect any stamp the fifth month, which inequality can be used to determine how many stamps, s,
she must collect the sixth month in order to meet her goal?

A. + 𝑠 ≥ 150

B. + 𝑠 ≥ 150

C. 100 + 300 + 350 + 200 + 𝑠 ≥ 5(150)