Here's the problem. Our company can only commit $4,225 to this project without going into debt. Also, since the greenhouse can only hold so many orchids, we need to make sure that we're spending no more than $100 per orchid - otherwise, we'll operate at a loss. Gina, the sub-contractor, assured me this was possible, and she even showed me how to do it, but she took most of her notes with her, and I'm no mathematical genius.

Here's how the expenses add up. First, to build a greenhouse, you need $2,222 just in start-up costs. Then, for each orchid in the greenhouse, you need $5 for a proper planter. But in addition, because the more orchids there are, the easier it is to spread infection, the cost of disinfecting any one orchid is $1 for each orchid in the greenhouse.

The one example Gina did that I managed to save goes like this: suppose we plant 10 orchids. Then we'd spend $2222 for the greenhouse, plus $50 for planters, plus $10eachto disinfect the 10 orchids (meaning $100 for disinfecting all of them). The total cost would be $2,372. So far, so good. Unfortunately this comes to over $237 per orchid - that's bad.

I tried figuring out what happens if we increase the number of orchids, say to 100. In that case, I got the cost per orchid to be a better (but still not acceptable) $127, but the total cost to be an exorbitant $12,722. I'm not even sure these figures are right, however. I'm sure you could tell me.