Cost estimation; high-low; regression: wholesaler

Qs. 1. Pipe Dream Suppliers is a wholesaler of a large variety of pipes and other plumbing needs. The companys accountant Bobbi Esbend, has recently completed a cost study of the firms shipping department in which she used the weight of supplies loaded or unloaded at the companys loading dock to quantify the departments activity. Bobbi compiled the following data.

Month	Supplies loaded or unloaded (kg)	Shipping department costs
January	5400	$35100
February	4800	33900
March	3900	33750
April	3000	30600
May	6600	33300
June	7200	37650
July	6000	36000
August	5400	34200
September	7800	36360
October	3300	33150
November	3600	34050
December	4200	34050

Required:

2. estimate the shipping departments cost behavior using the high-low method. Use an equation to express the results of this estimation method.

3. using the equation estimated in requirement 2, predict the shipping departments cost for a month when loads totaling 4500 kilograms are moved.