Briar Company manufactures and sells dresses at a variable cost of $$18$ each and a fixed cost of $x.$ It can sell $6,800$ dresses at a selling price of $$60$ to earn an operating income of $$85,600($Option $1)$ or it can sell $5,800$ dresses at a selling price of $$72$ and another $3,300$ dresses at a selling price of $$62($Option $2).$ Which alternative should Briar choose?

Option $1$ operating income:

Option $2$ operating income:

$\backslash$table$[[$$$,85,600],[$$$,258,400],[,$Option $2]]$

Briar should choose

Option $2$

$2.$ Chance Corporation manufactures and sells a special kind of ball bearing. Its cost structure depends on the number of bearings it produces. Its fixed costs and variable manufacturing cost per unit for different ranges of production are described in the following table:

$($Click the icon to vie the table.$)$

Chance's sales director believes the company can sell $2,300$ units at a selling price of $$400$; or $3,300$ units at a price of $$350$; or $6,800$ units at a price of $$250.$ If it chose to sell $6,800$ units, however, it would incur additional advertising costs of $$62,000$ and variable selling costs of $$7$ per unit. Should Chance Corporation plan to produce and sell $($a$)2,300$ units $($b$)3,300$ units or $($c$)6,800$ units?

$($a$)$ If Chance sells $2,300$ units, its operating income will be