Question

you are on vacation in los angeles, and you need to get around town to different locations. below are the costs for two different cab companies, locally dubbed \the yellow cabs\ and \the blue cabs.\ use the graph below to answer the questions. identify b, the y - intercept for the yellow cab, and explain what it means in context.

Explanation:

The y - intercept is the point where the line crosses the y - axis. For the Yellow Cab line, when the number of miles \(x = 0\), the total cost \(y=b\). Looking at the graph, when \(x = 0\) (before any miles are driven), the total cost for the Yellow Cab is \(b = 6\). In the context of the problem, this means that there is a fixed cost (a base fee) of \(6\) dollars just for getting into a Yellow Cab, even if you don't travel any distance.

Answer:

The y - intercept \(b\) for the Yellow Cab is \(6\). It represents the base fee (the cost of getting into the cab before any miles are driven) of \(6\) dollars.