Sales Application

Question

Statins are used to keep cholesterol in check and are a top-selling drug in the U.S. The equation:  S=1.9x+5.1 estimates the amount of sales, S, of statin (in billions of dollars) x years after January 1, 1998.

Sales of statin on January 1, 2007 was ? billion dollars.

Statin sales reached 20 billion dollars in the year ?

Answer 1

S = 5.1 + 1.9x where x = years after 1998. S is measured in billions of dollars

in 2007, x = 2007-1998 = 9

S = 5.1 + 1.9(9) = 5.1+17.1 = 22.2 = $22.2 billion

20 = 5.1+1.9x

1.9x = 20-5.1 = 14.9

x = 14.9/1.9 = about 7.84

year = 1998+7.84 = 2005.84

= about Oct. 3, 2005 to reach $20 billion