Business: Straight-Line Depreciation Straight-line depreciation is a method for estima...

Business: Straight-Line Depreciation Straight-line depreciation is a method for estimating the value of an asset (such as a piece of machinery) as it loses value (“depreciates”) through use. Given the original price of an asset, its useful lifetime, and its scrap value (its value at the end of its useful lifetime), the value of the asset after t years is given by the formula

a. A farmer buys a harvester for $50,000 and estimates its useful life to be 20 years, after which its scrap value will be $6000. Use the formula above to find a formula for the value V of the harvester after t years, for 0 ≤ t ≤ 20.

b. Use your formula to find the value of the harvester after 5 years.

c. Graph the function found in part (a) on a graphing calculator on the window [0, 20] by [0, 50,000]. [Hint: Use x instead of t.]