Kristen Battle, owner of Flower Mode, operates a local chain of floral shops. Each shop has its own delivery van. Instead of charging a flat delivery fee, Battle wants to set the delivery fee based on the

distance driven to deliver the flowers. Battle wants to separate the fixed and variable portions of her van operating costs so that she has a better idea how delivery distance affects these costs. She has the

following data from the past seven months:

$($Click the icon to view the data.$)$

Use the high$-$low method to determine Flower Mode's cost equation for van operating costs. Use your results to predict van operating costs at a volume of $14,500$ miles.

Let's begin by determining the formula that is used to calculate the variable cost $($slope$).$

Change in cost

Change in volume

$=$ Variable cost $($slope$)$

Now determine the formula that is used to calculate the fixed cost component.

Total operating cost

Total variable cost

Fixed cost

Use the high$-$low method to determine Flower Mode's operating cost equation. $($Round the variable cost to the nearest cent and the fixed cost to the nearest whole dollar.$)$

$y=,x+$

Data table