Melody Leigh, owner of Broadway Floral, operates a local chain of floral shops. Each shop has its own delivery van. Instead of charging a

flat delivery fee, Leigh wants to set the delivery fee based on the distance driven to deliver the flowers. Leigh 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 Broadway Floral's cost equation for van operating costs. Use your results to predict van operating

costs at a volume of $16,500$ 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.

Data table