Garfield Company manufactures a popular brand of dog repellant known as DogGone It, which it sells in gallon-size bottles with a spray attachment. The majority of Garfield?s business comes from orders placed by homeowners who are trying to keep neighborhood dogs out of their yards. Garfield?s operating information for the first six months of the year follows:

Required: 1. Using the high-low method, calculate Garfield?s total fixed operating costs and variable operating cost per bottle.

2. Perform a least-squares regression analysis on Garfield?s data.

3. Determine how well this regression analysis explains the data.

4. Using the regression output, create a linear cost equation ( y = a + b x ) for estimating Garfield?s operating costs.

Month January 1,000 Number of Operating Bottles Sold Cost February 1,470 March 1,770 April 2,420 May June 3,390 3,640 $ 10,520 15,680 16,070 19,790 27,690 34,600