The U.S. SHIRTS Problem:

U. S. SHIRTS #1 (Day 1)

When PAT-E-OH Furniture Inc. went out of business, you were able to get another job at U. S. Shirts. This is a custom Tee shirt shop that prints shirts for their customers. You job is to calculate costs for the various orders. For each order, U. S. Shirts charges $8 per shirt plus a one time set up charge of $15.

TASK 1:

Answer the following questions using complete sentences.

1. How much would you charge for an order of 3 shirts? 10 shirts? 100 shirts? Write a sentence describing how you found these answers.
2. How many shirts could a customer purchase with $50? $100? $1000? $63? Write a sentence describing how you found these answers.
3. How does this problem differ from the previous two work problems?

TASK 2:

For this problem we will need to clearly identify the problem situation, produce a table of values, construct a graph, and find an algebraic formula. Your teacher will be giving your group overlays for you to put your answers on to share with the class.

PROBLEM SITUATION:

TABLE OF VALUES:

ALGEBRAIC RULE:

GRAPH: Please construct a graph of this information.

Discuss and list the advantages and disadvantages of each of these representations (problem situation, table of values, graph, algebraic formula) with your group members.

BE PREPARED TO CONTRIBUTE TO A GENERAL CLASS DISCUSSION OF THESE PROBLEM REPRESENTATIONS.

U. S. SHIRTS (Day 2)

A competitor's advertisement states that they will make custom tee shirts for $5.50 a shirt with a one time set up fee of $49.95. When your boss sees this ad, he tells you to figure out how this might affect his business.

TASK 1:

Answer the following questions using complete sentences.

1. How much would the competitor charge for an order of 3 shirts? 10 shirts? 100 shirts? Write a sentence describing how you found these answers.
2. How many shirts could a customer purchase from your competitor with $500? $100? $1000? $92.50? Write a sentence describing how you found these answers.

TASK 2:

In order to get a good answer for your boss we will need to clearly identify the problem situation, produce a table of values, construct a graph, and find an algebraic rule. Your teacher will be giving your group overlays for you to put your answers on to share with the class.

PROBLEM SITUATION:

TABLE OF VALUES:

ALGEBRAIC RULE:

GRAPH: Please construct a graph of this information.

Discuss and list the advantages and disadvantages of each of these representations (problem situation, table of values, graph, algebraic formula) with your group members.

BE PREPARED TO CONTRIBUTE TO A GENERAL CLASS DISCUSSION OF THESE PROBLEM REPRESENTATIONS.

U. S. SHIRTS #3 (Day 3)

Using the information from U. S. SHIRTS #1 and U. S. SHIRTS #2 perform the following tasks.

TASK 1:

Using the information obtained above answer the following questions in complete sentences.

1. For a small number of shirts 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 would you or your competitor give the customer the best price, and what would each charge for exactly five shirts? Write a sentence describing how you found this answer.
2. For a larger order of shirts, say 18, which company's price would be the least? By how much? Write a sentence describing how you found these answers.
3. For a bigger order of, say 80, shirts which company would be less expensive? By how much? Write a sentence describing how you found these answers.

TASK 2:

In the space below write a paragraph report for your boss comparing each companies price structure and try to give him an answer to his original question which was "Will this competitor affect our business?"

CHALLENGE PROBLEM

What is the greatest number of shirts in an order for which U. S. SHIRTS would be less expensive than their competitor?