Problem $9$

Jerm $7$ Corporation is preparing a flexible budget and desires to separate its electricity expense, which is semi$-$variable and fluctuates with total machine hours, into its fixed and variable components. Information for the first three months of $2022$ is as follows:

Machine Hours Electricity Expense

January $4,37539\mathrm{.}375$

February $2,50025,000$

March $5,00044\mathrm{.}500$

Requirements:

$1.$ Compute the variable rate per machine hour.

$2.$ Compute the fixed portion of Jem $7\text{'}$s electricity expense.

$3.$ Compute the total manufacturing costs if Jem $7\text{'}$s actual machine hours used is $4,500.$