Methods Assignment Help!

[LucaKing]

Hi everyone!

I recently got an assignment and I am having some issues beginning to solve the question!

https://imgur.com/gallery/5TUm33A

So using the formula shown in the image, the goal is to find "a" and "b".
I am aware that I have been given two cases, of different distances and average fruit weight and the specific fruit weight in a case is equal to the P multiplied by the overall average weight. I also know that there are going to be two separate equations to solve for "a" and "b", but I am unsure of what values to give "a" an "b".

Thanks!

[RuiAce]

Hey

At a glance, I'm not sure what you mean by values to "give" \(a\) and \(b\)? You seemed to understand that you're solving for \(a\) and \(b\), so the values you "give" them really should be the solutions to the separate equations you mentioned.

Or did you mean something else through the word "give"?

[LucaKing]

The question asks for the values of A and B and there is some additional information required to find A and B.

The formula for the productivity of a tree is:




We know that x is the distance, and the minimum value it can be is 2 meters. We also know that 2 trees planted 5 meters apart produce 88kg of fruit, and 2 trees planted 10m apart produce 117kg of fruit.

What I am unsure of is how can I find the values of A and B using the values and the formula above

Thanks for your reply

[RuiAce]

Without giving too much away:

- Remember that the question tells you that the productivity of a tree is \(132\times P\). So for example, if the productivity were 50 kg, then you would obtain \(132\times P = 50\). (I intentionally chose a value not given in the question to illustrate this.)
- These simultaneous equations will definitely not be linear equations, because of that annoying cube term. That means you cannot use the elimination method of simultaneous equations; you must use substitution.

That, and of course there's multiple ways of doing the subsequent algebra crunching.

Hopefully you can use that as a start.

[LucaKing]

Wow, thank you so much! That made perfect sense. I know exactly how to continue. Appreciate it!