Please help me with this math word problem. What formula do I use?

Question

Biologists want to set up a station to test alligators in the lake for West Nile Virus. Suppose that the costs for such a station are $2,500 for set up costs and $3.00 to administer each test.

Find the average cost per animal for 10 animals. 100 animals. 1,000 animals.

Answer 1

All you need to do is add up the total cost of setting up the station and administering all the tests, then divide that number by the number of animals being tested.

10 animals: (2500 + (3 * 10))/10 = $253

100 animals: (2500 + (3 * 100))/100 = $28

1000 animals: (2500 + (3 * 1000))/1000 = $5.50

Answer 2

cost = 2500 + 3N

N=10

C = 2500+30 = 2530

N = 1000

C = 2500+3000 = 5500

.

Answer 3

yep, work it out for each group of animals first.

for example, for 10 animals, your cost will be

$2,500  (the 2500 never changes) + $3.00 x 10 (10 animals) =

$2,500                                       + $30.00                         = $2,530

now, you have the cost for a group of 10 animals. Divide that cost by 10

and you get the average cost for each animal (Because there were 10 animals), so $253.00

to get the others, just do the same thing but swap out the appropriate number of animals.

Answer 4

c = 2500 + 3n

average c = (2500 + 3n)/n

where n is the number of animals tested