A small publishing company is planning to publish a new book. The production costs will include one-time fixed costs (such as editing) and variable costs (such as printing). There are two production methods it could use. With one method, the one-time fixed costs will total 58,881 , and the variable costs will be 8.50 per book. With the other method, the one-time fixed costs will total 18,081, and the variable costs will be 21.25 per book. For how many books produced will the costs from the two methods be the same?

In this question, we are asked to calculate the number of books that will be produced for two methods of production having different fixed and variable costs to have the same production cost.

Since the number of books is something we do not know, let’s represent it with a variable called c.

For the first production method, the cost of production will be ; 58,881 + 8.50c

For the second production method, the cost of production will be; 18,081 + 21.25c

Now since they are said to be equal, we proceed to equate both;

58,881 + 8.5c = 18,081 + 21.25c

58,881-18,081 = 21.25c - 8.5c

40,800 = 12.75c

c = 40,800/12.75

c = 3,200 books