The administrator of Azalea Hills Hospital would like a cost formula linking the costs involved in admitting patients to the number of patients admitting during a month. The admitting department's costs and the number of patients admitting during the immediately preceding eight months are given in the following table.

Month Number of Patients Admitted Admitting Department Costs

May 1,800 $14,700

June 1,900 15,200

July 1,700 13,700

August 1,600 14,000

September 1,500 14,300

October 1,300 13,100

November 1,100 12,800

December 1,500 14,600

1. Use the high-low method to establish the fixed and variable components of admitting costs.

2. Express the fixed and variable components of admitting costs as a cost formula in the linear equation form Y=a+bX.