Skip to content or footer

Applied exercises: Linear functions

  1. 1

    Are the following relations are linear, proportional or non-linear?

    1. number of bought cucumbers \mapsto total price of those cucumbers

      (assumed that there is no discount)

    2. age \mapsto body height

    3. amount of rice \mapsto weight of a bowl with that rice in it

    4. value in € \mapsto value in $

    5. study time for an exam \mapsto score in the exam

    6. side length of a square \mapsto area of the square

    7. number of chocolate bars \mapsto number of calories gained by the chocolate bars

    8. number of drinks during a club visit \mapsto total costs of the club visit

      (All drinks cost the same.)

  2. 2

    A car has a fuel supply of 56 liters of gasoline. It consumes 7.5 liters per 100 km.

    1. Create a table for the consumption in liters for distances between 0km and 600km (with 100km between two values).

    2. Visualize the relation graphically.

    3. After how many km would the car run out of gasoline? In order to not run out of gasoline, one should refuel it if the supply has reached a level of 5L. After how many km will this point be reached?

  3. 3

    Mr. Smith has concluded a cell phone contract with the following conditions:

    Monthly basic fee 20€, telephone costs per minute 0.35€.

    1. How much is his monthly bill if he makes 40, 80 or 120 minutes of calls?

    2. Create a function for the monthly cost depending on the call duration in minutes.

    3. Visualize the relation (costs depending on call duration) graphically.

  4. 4

    The following table gives the value in degrees Celsius (°C) and degrees Fahrenheit (°F) for some temperatures.

    temperature (°C)

    temperature (°F)

    -10

    14

    0

    32

    20

    68

    60

    140

    This is a linear relation.

    Draw the graph corresponding to this relation (Celsius on the xx-axis, Fahrenheit on the yy-axis) and give a function to convert a given Celsius temperature into a Fahrenheit temperature.

  5. 5

    A delivery truck with a total load of 1.2  t1.2\;t transports xx boxes of 25  kg25\;kg each and yy boxes of 150  kg150\;kg each.

    1. Plot the relation between xx and yy on a graph, if only the total load is known.

    2. Which points (xy)\left(x|y\right) within the xx-yy-diagram are feasible, if you only know that the truck is loaded with at most 1.2t1.2 t ?

  6. 6

    A magazine that can be purchased at a price of 2.20 € has a circulation of 120,000 copies. The publisher hired some market researchers who found out that the circulation can be increased by 5000 copies if the price is reduced by 0.20 € per magazine. Conversely, if the price is increased by 0.20 €, one loses 5000 buyers.

    1. Calculate the price per magazine that would be necessary for a circulation of 140,000 copies.

    2. What circulation can the publisher expect if it lowers the price of the magazine to 1.50 €?

  7. 7

    It is a very slow, completely undramatic "breakup history", step by step: The Eurasian continental plate moves away from the North American plate by two centimeters per year. If one were to follow the course of Columbus today, who sailed from Andalusia to the New World, one would have to cover about ___ meters more distance. That's hardly likely to upset a modern-day captain on the more than 6,000-kilometer voyage between Europe and America.

    1. By how many meters has the distance increased?

    2. How many years have to pass until another 5 meters of distance will have been added between the continental plates?

  8. 8

    A patient receives an infusion. A full bottle contains 40 ml of infusion fluid. The drip rate is set such that 3 ml of the liquid passes through per minute. As soon as there is less than 5 ml in the bottle, it must be replaced. After how much time is this necessary?

  9. 9

    Jonathan and Hannes decide to climb a very high mountain in the alps. Jonathan starts his hike at sea level (0m), while Hannes starts in a small shack at an altitude of (2500m).

    Both may climb at 500m per hour. The function term describing Jonathan's ascent is

    j(x)=500xj(x)=500x

    with xx denoting the time in hours. Decide which function term describes Hannes' ascent!

  10. 10

    Max and Jana go on a trip to the game park "Oh My Deer" in Wild Brook. The entrance fee to the game park is $5\$5 for two people. The game park offers the opportunity to buy special animal food for $1\$1 at each enclosure to feed the animals.

    Bild

    (a) Determine how much Max and Jana have to spend for their trip if they want to buy either 5, 10 or 20 units of animal food in the game park. Create a table of values.

    (b) Find a function f(x)f(x) describing the costs of the trip in $\$ depending on the number xx of food units which Max and Jana buy.

    (c) Visuallize the relationship from (b) by a plot of f(x)f(x).

    (d) Max and Jana have $14\$14 available at the beginning of their trip. Read off from the graph how much food they can buy.

  11. 11

    The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is a huge space agency that can send rockets into space. For simplicity, we assume that a Rocket costs $500,000\$500{,}000 (real rockets are much more expensive). Before sending rockets into space, the NASA has to build a launchpad at the costs of $1\$1 million.

    (a) Calculate how much NASA spends in total when it launches 4, 6 or 10 rockets into space. Create a table of values from this.

    (b) Set up a function that gives NASA's total costs f(x) f(x) in $\$ million as a function of the number of rockets xx that are launched into space.

    (c) Visualize the relationship from (b) by a plot.

    (d) How many rockets can NASA send into space with a budget of $10\$10 million.

  12. 12

    At an altitude of 5000 m above Gloomington, dark clouds come up and it starts to rain. The raindrops fall down 500 m in one minute.

    Bild

    (a) Calculate the height of the raindrops above the ground after one, two and five minutes. Create a table of values from this.

    (b) Find a function that gives the altitude f(x)f(x) of the raindrops in m as a function of the elapsed time xx in minutes. (For simplicity, you can assume that there is no ground and the raindrops continue falling after reaching an altitude of 0m.)

    (c) Visualize the relationship from (b) by a plot.

    (d) How long does it take for the raindrops to reach the ground?

  13. 13

    Maple Springs is known for its beautiful Indian summer: In the beginning of fall, the leaves of the trees turn yellow and red and start falling to the ground. Assume that a tree carries 12000 leaves in summer and starts to lose 1000 leaves every week, as fall begins.

    Bild

    (a) Set up a function for the number of leaves f(x)f(x) on the tree as a function of the number of weeks x x that have passed since the beginning of fall.

    (b) Draw this relationship in a coordinate system. Plot the number of leaves (in thousands) on the yy-axis and the number of elapsed weeks on the xx-axis.

    (c) How many leaves are there on the tree after 1, 2, 3, 6 and 12 weeks, respectively?

  14. 14

    Water is filled into an empty Jacuzzi. Per minute, 40 liters of water flow into the Jacuzzi.

    Whirlpool
    1. Complete the table:

      Time (in min)

      0

      1

      2

      5

      8.2

      15

      25

      Water(in liters)

    2. The function f(x)f\left(x\right) is defined as the volume in the Jacuzzi (in liters) in dependence of the time xx (in minutes).

      Draw the points of the function ff computed in (a) into a coordinate system and draw the graph of the function f f.

    3. What is the equation of this function f(x)f(x) that gives the amount of water (in liters) as a function of time xx (in minutes)?

    4. The Jacuzzi holds 750 liters in total.

      What does thin mean for the graph from (b)?

      Read off and calculate after what time (in minutes) the water supply must be turned off, as the Jacuzzi is filled.

  15. 15

    A candle is 18  cm18\; \text{cm} long before being lit. When burning, it becomes shorter by 1.5  cm1.5\; \text{cm} every hour.

    Brennende Kerze
    1. How many hours does it take for the candle to burn down completely?

    2. Draw the graph of the function ff describing the length yy (in cm\text{cm}) of the candle in terms of the burning time xx (in hours).

    3. Find the equation of ff.

    4. Calculate the length of the candle after 5 or 8 hours. Check your calculated values using the graph.

    5. Calculate after how many hours, only 3  cm3 \; \text{cm} of the candle are remaining.

  16. 16

    A water supplier charges 1.50 € per m3m^3 of water (consumption costs).

    In addition, the customer must pay a monthly basic fee of 6 € for maintenance work carried by the supplier.

    Wasserzähler
    1. Complete the table.

      Water consumption(in m³)

      0

      1

      2

      3

      7,8

      15

      20

      Consumption costs (in €)

      Total costs (in €)

    2. Draw the graph of the function ff describing the total monthly bill yy (in €) in terms of the water consumption xx (in m3m^3).

      Also determine the equation of ff.


This content is licensed under
CC BY-SA 4.0Info