Question

the table shows the annual profits (in thousands of dollars) of a county fair from 2008 to 2012. What must the 2012 profit be (in hundreds of dollars) to break even over the five-year period?

Answer 1

The break-even point is the point in which a business makes no gain and no loss.

Let the 2012 profit be x, then

2.5 + 1.75 + (-3.3) + (-1.4) + x = 0

4.25 - 3.3 - 1.4 + x = 0

-0.45 + x = 0

x = 0.45

Therefore, the 2012 profit must be 0.45 thousand dollars = 4.5 hundred dollars to break even over the five-year period.