Example 1

A wholesale store sells paper plates for $3.27 per package, up to and including 50 packages purchased. If a customer buys more than 50 packages, the price of the entire purchase drops to $2.73 per package. Write a piecewise function for this pricing structure, and determine the price a deli owner would pay for 75 packages of plates.
  1. Write a function for the price paid for 50 or fewer packages of plates.
  2. Write a function for the price paid for more than 50 packages of plates.
  3. Combine the two functions to show the “pieces” of the piecewise function and the restricted domain for each.
  4. Calculate the price paid for 75 packages of plates.
This applet is provided by Walch Education as supplemental material for their mathematics programs. Visit www.walch.com for more information.