Question

A particular company's net sales, in billions, from 2008 to 2018 can be modeled by the expression t2 + 12t + 74, where t is the number of years since the end of 2008. What does the constant term of the expression represent in terms of the context?

Answer 1

The constant term of the expression, 74, represents the company's net sales in 2008. This is because the expression t^2 + 12t + 74 represents the company's net sales in billions of dollars, where t is the number of years since the end of 2008. When t = 0, the expression evaluates to 74, which represents the company's net sales in 2008.

In other words, the constant term of the expression represents the initial value of the function. In this case, the initial value is the company's net sales in 2008.