The controller of Gutierrez Industries has collected the following monthly expense data for use in analyzing the cost behaviour of maintenance costs:

Month		Total Maintenance Costs			Total Machine Hours
January		$2,750			3,500
February		3,000			4,000
March		3,600			6,000
April		4,500			7,900
May		3,200			5,000
June		5,000			8,000

(a) Determine the fixed and variable cost components using the high- low method.

(b) Prepare a graph showing the behaviour of maintenance costs, and identify the fixed and variable cost elements. Use 2,000-hour increments and $1,000 cost increments.