MATH 2123, Calc. II for Business, Life & Soc. Sci.

Homework Packet #1

The table below shows the average sales (as number sold per day) at grocery store of Product A based on its prices and the prices of a competitors Product B, where the two competing products and their respective prices are displayed next to each other, S=S(A,B).

	A = $2.75	A = $3.00	A = $3.25	A = $3.50	A = $3.75
B = $2.90	107	93	73	48	15
B = $3.15	156	142	122	97	64
B = $3.40	205	191	171	146	113
B = $3.65	254	240	220	195	162
B = $3.90	303	289	269	244	211

1. Use the table to estimate the rate of change in average sales of Product A with respect to the price of Product B. Explain how you arrived at your estimate.

2. Explain why you could not estimate the rate of change in average sales of Product A with respect to the price of Product A as easily as you estimated the rate of change in problem 1).

3. In order to estimate the average sales of Product A when the price of Product A is $2.90 and the price of Product B is $3.90, which variable should be held constant? Why?

4. Will the cross-section needed to estimate the average sales in problem 3) be represented by a row or column? Why?