Email: althauser@math.ucsb.edu
Instructions: You have
Problem 1
You have decided to make and sell friendship bracelets as a hobby. When bracelets are sold for
(a) Use calculus to determine what price bracelets should be sold at to maximize profit.
(b) How much money will you make each month at this price?
Doing this, we find that the amount of money made each month at this price is
Step 1 :Given that the quantity of bracelets sold is a function of the price, we can express this as
Step 2 :The cost of making each bracelet is $4, so the total cost is
Step 3 :The revenue from selling the bracelets is the price times the quantity sold, or
Step 4 :The profit is the difference between the revenue and the cost, or
Step 5 :To find the price that maximizes the profit, we take the derivative of the profit function with respect to the price, set it equal to zero, and solve for the price.
Step 6 :Doing this, we find that the optimal price to sell the bracelets at to maximize profit is
Step 7 :To find out how much money will be made each month at this price, we substitute the optimal price into the profit function.
Step 8 :Doing this, we find that the amount of money made each month at this price is