Rational Expression word problem

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SUMMARY

Nancy's lawn care profit per hour can be expressed as a rational function, specifically P_h(A) = \frac{5A}{0.05A + 0.25}, where A represents the area of the lawn in square meters. To evaluate this function for a lawn area of 90 square meters, the correct expression is P_h(90) = \frac{5(90)}{0.05(90) + 0.25}. The importance of using proper bracketing symbols is emphasized to avoid misinterpretation of the formula.

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Pikachu1
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Nancy's lawn care specializes in residential lawn cutting and fertilizing. Nancy the owner has tracked her income and expenses. She has determined that her profit can be represented by the expression $5A, where A is the area of the lawn in square metres. The time in hours that it takes her to maintain a lawn is approximately 0.05A + 0.25.

Write a rational expression for nancy profit per hour.
Evaluate the expression for a yard with an area of 90m^2Obviously there is some sort of formula for this that i don't understand.
 
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When you see the word "per" (which means "for each"), as in miles per hour (or profit per hour), this means you want to take some total and divide by the number of hours. You are given both the total profit, and the number of hours, both as a function of $A$. Can you now construct a profit per hour function $P_h$ for Nancy?

$$P_h(A)=\frac{\text{Total profit}}{\text{hours to maintain a lawn}}=?$$
 
MarkFL said:
When you see the word "per" (which means "for each"), as in miles per hour (or profit per hour), this means you want to take some total and divide by the number of hours. You are given both the total profit, and the number of hours, both as a function of $A$. Can you now construct a profit per hour function $P_h$ for Nancy?

$$P_h(A)=\frac{\text{Total profit}}{\text{hours to maintain a lawn}}=?$$
So it would be,

Ph(A) =$5A/ 0.05A + 0.25 ?

I feel like i am still missing something.
 
Pikachu said:
So it would be,

Ph(A) =$5A/ 0.05A + 0.25 ?

I feel like i am still missing something.

I would just recognize that the units of the function are dollars per hour, and if using plain text, use bracketing symbols to indicate clearly what the denominator is as follows:

P_h(A) = 5A/(0.05A + 0.25)

So, for part b), you need to evaluate P_h(90). :D
 
MarkFL said:
I would just recognize that the units of the function are dollars per hour, and if using plain text, use bracketing symbols to indicate clearly what the denominator is as follows:

P_h(A) = 5A/(0.05A + 0.25)

So, for part b), you need to evaluate P_h(90). :D

So, it would be? I have no idea why this question stomped me like that.
P_h(90) = 5(90)/0.05(90) +0.25 ?
 
Pikachu said:
So, it would be? I have no idea why this question stomped me like that.
P_h(90) = 5(90)/0.05(90) +0.25 ?

Well, you really need bracketing symbols...

P_h(90) = 5(90)/(0.05(90) + 0.25)

The way you write it means:

$$P_h(90)=\frac{5(90)}{0.05(90)}+0.25$$

But what you want is:

$$P_h(90)=\frac{5(90)}{0.05(90)+0.25}$$

And the parentheses makes the meaning clear. :D
 
MarkFL said:
Well, you really need bracketing symbols...

P_h(90) = 5(90)/(0.05(90) + 0.25)

The way you write it means:

$$P_h(90)=\frac{5(90)}{0.05(90)}+0.25$$

But what you want is:

$$P_h(90)=\frac{5(90)}{0.05(90)+0.25}$$

And the parentheses makes the meaning clear. :D

Thank you! I understand now.
You rock
 

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