Help with finding variable cost, total cost, etc. please!!?

Question

Ok, I'm really bad at this and no matter what I read or o, I can't seem to understand it. Please help.

Ok The questions are:

a. Calculate the total cost, the average variable cost, the average total cost, and the marginal cost for each quantity of output.

b. What is the break-even price? What is the shut-down price?

c. Suppose that the price at which Kate can sell catered meals is $21 per meal. In the short run, will Kate earn a profit? In the short run, should she produce or shut down?

d. Suppose that the price at which Kate can sell catered meals is $17 per meal. In the short run, will Kate earn a profit? In the short run, should she produce or shut down?

e. Suppose that the price at which Kate can sell catered meals is $13 per meal. In the short run, will Kate earn a profit? In the short run, should she produce or shut down?

Quantity of meals

0

10

20

30

40

50

VC

0

200

300

480

700

1000

Answer 1

I won't do your work for you, but here is some explanation that should help.  Variable costs are expenses that change in proportion to the activity of a business. In other words, variable cost is the sum of marginal costs. It can also be considered normal costs. Along with fixed costs, variable costs make up the two components of total cost. Direct Costs, however, are costs that can be associated with a particular cost object. Not all variable costs are direct costs, however; for example, variable manufacturing overhead costs are variable costs that are not a direct costs, but indirect costs.Variable costs are sometimes called unit-level costs as they vary with the number of units produced.

For example, a manufacturing firm pays for raw materials. When activity is decreased, less raw material is used, and so the spending for raw materials falls. When activity is increased, more raw material is used and spending therefore rises. Note that the changes in expenses happen with little or no need for managerial intervention.

A company will pay for line rental and maintenance fees each period regardless of how much power gets used. And some electrical equipment (air conditioning or lighting) may be kept running even in periods of low activity. These expenses can be regarded as fixed. But beyond this, the company will use electricity to run plant and machinery as required. The busier the company, the more the plant will be run, and so the more electricity gets used. This extra spending can therefore be regarded as variable.

In retail the cost of goods is almost entirely a variable cost; this is not true of manufacturing where many fixed costs, such as depreciation, are included in the cost of goods.

Although taxation usually varies with profit, which in turn varies with sales volume, it is not normally considered a variable cost.

In most of the concerns, salary is paid on monthly rates. Though there may exist a labour work norm based on which the direct cost (labour) can be absorbed in to cost of the product, salary cannot be termed as variable in this case.