Maintenance cost at a hospital was observed to increase as activity level increased. The following data was gathered:
Activity Level -
Maintenance Cost -
Month -
Patient Days -
Incurred -
January -
5,600
$7,900
February -
7,100
$8,500
March -
5,000
$7,400
April -
6,500
$8,200
May -
7,300
$9,100
June -
8,000
$9,800
If the cost of maintenance is expressed in an equation, what is the independent variable for this data?
In this context, the independent variable is the one that is assumed to affect or determine the maintenance cost. Fixed cost remains constant regardless of patient days. Variable cost and total maintenance cost are dependent variables because they vary with the activity level, which in this case is represented by the number of patient days. Therefore, patient days are the independent variable as they influence the maintenance cost incurred.
How can reviewees answer this when it is badly-formatted ??
its a free site, dont complain
i dont even understand the format and question?
No info is needed to find out which option is an independent variable. Fixed costs are as the name implies, fixed, not a variable. Variable cost and total maintenance cost must be depending on activity levels, so they're variables but not independent ones, hence the answer is "patience days", which has no dependency on any of these items. Hope it helps :)