Question 1
Think about your dream job as it relates to the program of study you are completing. Write a brief paragraph that describes your dream job and why that job appeals to you. How will your degree program help you to get this position?
Question 2
You were offered the job that you wanted! Spend some time researching the average starting salary for your state (or nationally). Provide the following:
The average starting salary that you found in your research
The url of the website you used to determine it. Please use the option that creates a weblink from the options above by pasting the website, highlighting/selecting the website that you pasted and link it to the site by clicking on the icon. You then paste the website there and choose "Open in a new window". If you don't see that icon you may need to click on the top right corner of the submission box to show it.
Question 3
Now that you know your gross annual salary, which is your yearly salary before taxes or other deductions are applied, find your gross monthly salary. Show how you arrived at your answer using the equation editor by selecting the button. You may have to click the button if the equation editor button isn't shown. Be sure your final answer is labeled and rounded to the nearest dollar
Question 4
Net pay refers to the amount of take-home pay after taxes and other deductions (healthcare, social security, retirement, etc.). For the purposes of this project we will assume everyone is an unmarried individual with no children. We will assume your net salary is simply your gross salary minus your taxes (that you will calculate using the table below) and all of your gross salary will be considered taxable income. Find your net pay. Show all calculations, including descriptions if necessary. Be sure to use the equation editor and label your final solution. Round your solution to the nearest dollar.
Question 5
Calculate the overall percentage that you are paying in taxes. Use the equation editor to show your work! Include your answer as both the decimal representation rounded to the nearest hundredth and the percent rounded to the nearest whole percent.
Question 6
Using the same process as you did to determine the gross monthly salary using the gross annual salary, calculate your net monthly salary based on your net annual salary. Use the equation editor to show all calculations and label your result in dollars per month rounded to the nearest dollar.
Question 7
Now that you are successful in your new position, you have decided to reward yourself with a new (or new to you) vehicle. Sources say you should strive to have your vehicle payment be no more than 10% of your gross monthly salary, which you already computed in question 3.
Write an inequality, using x to represent your gross monthly salary and y to represent your monthly car payment, which could be used to calculate the range of payments that will work in your budget. (Do NOT input your salary on this step):
Question 8
Using the inequality you came up with in the previous question, input your gross monthly salary in the inequality you wrote to determine your range of possible car payments. Show both your replacement of x with your gross monthly salary and the final solution with an appropriate label. Use the equation editor.
Question 9
Using the solution and what we know to be an appropriate domain based on the question, write the possible car payment options in interval notation.
Question 10
Car payments are determined using simple interest. If you don't remember this formula, go back and look it up! To finance your vehicle purchase you have two choices. Write two equations, one for each bank, that models the banks' loan options using x for the price of the vehicle and y to represent the total cost (price, interest and origination fees) paid on each loan. Be sure to label which equation goes with which bank.
Bank A: Finance the full price of the vehicle at 5% with an origination fee of $200 paid over 5 years. Bank B: Finance the full price of the vehicle at 4.5% paid over 6 years (no additional fees).
Question 11
Research various vehicles that are of interest to you and choose one to focus on. Take a screen shot or picture of the ad that displays your desired vehicle and its price. If you are unsure how to capture a screen shot visit https://www.take-a-screenshot.org/. Submit this file.
Question 12
Use the equations you came up with for bank financing options to calculate the following: total cost of your vehicle using bank A
monthly payment of your vehicle using bank A total cost of your vehicle using bank B monthly payment of your vehicle using bank B
Show all of your work using the equation editor and label each solution.
Question 13
Taking into account your allowed car payment range and the payments you determined for Bank A and Bank B, can you afford to purchase your vehicle? Express your answer in paragraph form. If you cannot afford the vehicle, explain why based on your budget values you determined. If you will purchase the vehicle, which bank will you finance your vehicle through and why?
Question 14
You want to celebrate all of your recent successes. You decide to reward yourself and a special someone with a vacation to a destination of your choosing. For your trip you will need to stay in a hotel/resort and rent a car.
You decide to rent a car for the duration of your trip. You have two options. Write an equation for each company that depicts the total cost of the rental, y, based on the number of days, x.
Cheepers Rent-A-Car:
$39/day with a one-time charge of $20 for insurance/fees Busters:
$49/day but all additional fees are included in the price of the rental Be sure to label each equation with the company it corresponds to.
Question 15
Graph the system of equations that you wrote for car rental options to determine the break-even point for the cost of the car rentals. One easy way to do this is using www.desmos.com/calculator,
the online graphing calculator and take a screen shot of your graph. If you are unsure how to capture a screen shot visit https://www.take-a-screenshot.org/. You may also choose to graph this by hand and take a picture of your graph but be sure that your graph is easy to read. Either way please ensure the following:
The x-axis should have a scale from -1 to 5 with a tick mark each 1 unit
The y-axis should have a scale of -50 to 300 with a tick mark at each 50 units
If you are using desmos.com/calculator, click on the wrench and change the settings as shown:
Question 16
Write your solution to the system as an ordered pair, then interpret the values in the context of the problem.
Question 17
Explain specifically how you would use your graph to determine the cheaper option after one day, two days, three days etc. What would you look for on the graph? Do NOT explain how to plug in values to find the cheaper option.
Question 18
You also have two options for lodging. Write an equation FOR EACH OPTION that depicts the total cost of your stay, y, based on the number of days, x.
Bilton Hotel:
$100/night but you must pay an additional one-time fee of $40 for parking and other fees Triple Tree:
$110/night with no additional parking or resort fees.
Be sure to label each equation with the hotel it corresponds to.
Question 19
You will need to use either substitution or elimination to solve this system. Which method will you choose? What factors helped you make that decision?
Question 20
Show your work for solving the system of equations you wrote for your hotel options using the equation editor. Be sure to use the method you decided on in the previous question.
Question 21
Write your solution to the system as an ordered pair, then interpret the values in the context of the problem.
Question 22
Explain how you would use your break even point and the information you know to find the cheaper option before and after the break even point. Do NOT explain how to plug in values to find the cheaper option.