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kofigc
Nov 3, 2010, 05:31 AM
I know the guidelines state that we should post our working along with questions to enable people to direct us toward the correct solution but, I am more or less clueless with how I should take on this question. I will do my best to post anything of meaning or worth after the question, as usual any help is greatly appreciated with this. :)

Question
A firm's annual fixed cost of production is £7200. The annual variable costs of production are £60 per unit of output plis £2 per square unit of output. The product is sold at a constant price of £320 per unit. Calcualte the breakeven levels of production.

Ideas:

Breakeven occurs when Revenue = Costs.

Revenue = Selling Price * Items Sold so R(x) = 320 * x

Costs = Fixed set up costs + Variable costs * Items produced so C(x) = 7200+60+2 * x

B.E. = 320x - 7262x

I am not sure if this is the right direction to be going in or not and therefore can't / don't know how to progress any further.

kofigc
Nov 3, 2010, 05:56 AM
Good news, I managed to reach the correct solution for this question. I'll post my working below for anyone that finds themselves in a similar situation!
If we allow x to be the number of outputs:
C(x) = 7200 + 60x + 2x^2 (Cost Function)
R(x) = 320x

P(x) = R - C
320x - 7200 + 60x + 2x^2
Once at this stage we can then rearrange the above stage into a quadratic equation : 2x^2 - 260x + 7200
Then solve using the following formulae: x = (-b+(OR)-√b^2-4ac) / 2a

a = to be = 260 c= 7200

After replacing these values you will end up with x= 40 and x= 90. Therefore the breakeven levels of production are 40 units and 90 units.

ArcSine
Nov 3, 2010, 06:22 AM
Yep, BE is when total revenue = total costs, or equivalently is the solution to

R(x) = C(x)

where x is the units of production. Total Revenue is straightforward at 320320x, but it looks like Total Cost should be

C(x) \ = \ 2x^2 \ + \ 60x \ + \ 7,200

(Note the difference in the question between "per unit of output" and "per square unit of output". I'm interpreting the latter as "per squared unit of output".)

R(x) = C(x) (breakeven) is equivalent to R(x) - C(x) = 0; which itself is just a symbolic expression of the fact that at breakeven, net income is zero.

Using your Revenue and Cost numbers in this "net income = zero" version of breakeven gives you

260x \ - \ 2x^2 \ - \ 7,200 \ = \ 0 \

The breakeven, in units x, is the solution to that quadratic, which you'll find by completing the square, or via the quadratic formula, e.g.. Hint: There are two solutions, both feasible since they're both positive, and hence there are actually two possible breakeven production levels.

Good luck!

ArcSine
Nov 3, 2010, 06:25 AM
You beat me to the punch, amigo... and you nailed it. Nice work!