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given the high cost gassoline, automobile owners are constantly searching for wa

ID: 3148759 • Letter: G

Question

given the high cost gassoline, automobile owners are constantly searching for ways of economizing on driving expenses. One costly alternative for many persons is to purchase a new carwhich gets significantly better gesoline millage then does thier present car. chamberlain developeda mathimatical formula to calculate how many years a person would have to drive a new car to make the gasoline savings offset the cost of trading in the old car and buying a new car. the varriables to be used in this analysis are:

= number of years to justify the purchase of new car

m= gasoline millage of present car, miles per gallon

n=gasoline millage of new car, milag per gallon

c= net cost of new car

d= avg number of miles driven per year

p= gasoline price per gallon

chamberline determines this "breakeven" period using the genral relationship

cost of gasoline of present car during break even period =  cost of gasoline of new car during break even period + net cost of new car

or F-old (Y)=F-new(Y)

1. using the varriables defined previousely, determine the expression for F-old(Y) & F-new(Y)

2. set F-old(Y) equals to F-new(Y) and drive the genral formula for breakeven period Y.

3. determine the breakeven period if the present car has a value of $8,000 and gets 14 miles per gallon. the new car has a purchase cost of $16,000 and gets an estimated 46 miles per gallon. Gasolline prices are currently $1.50 per gallon. Assume annual millage of 24,000 miles.

5. Rework part 1-3 if the unknown is the x, the total miles driven. that is suppose we wish to develope a formula that allows one to determine the number of miles. rather then number of years. a new car would have to driven. average millage per day d is not part of this modlel.

6. lis tassumption of this model. what assumptions are unrealistic? whyy?what cost factors have not been considered?

Explanation / Answer

Y = Breakeven Period

m = milege present car ; n = milege new car

c = net cost of new car

p = gasolin price per gallon, d = avg miles covered per year

After Y years

Total distance covered = d*y

WIth Old Car

Total Cost = cost of gasoline = (Distance Covered / Mileage)*Price per gallon = (dy/m)*p

With New car

Total cost = cost of gasoline + cost of car = c + dyp/n

2) c + dpy/n = dpy/m

c = dpy(1/m - 1/n)

c*(mn/n-m) = dpy

y = (c/dp)*(mn/n-m)

3) c = cost of new car = Cost of new - value of old = $8,000

y = {8000/24000*1.5}{46*14/(46-14)}

= 46*14/(4.5*32)

= 4.47 years