November 9, 2005

Dear Team of Economic Advisors,

I was recommended to you by your teacher Ms. Doroshuk, who told me that you might be able to handle my company’s problem. The Ptomaine Fish Company is currently negotiating with several companies to deliver fish for us. The Pretty Good Delivery Company offered to make deliveries for a fee of $15 per month, plus 25 cents for every delivery they make. The Really Decent Delivery Company offered to deliver fish for a fee of $8 per month, plus $1 for every delivery they make. The Unbelievably Great Delivery Company has no monthly fee, but charges $3 for every delivery. We don’t know what the best deal is for our business, so we hope you can help us out.

One additional problem is that while we know a lot about fish, we don’t know a lot about math. If you could explain it in some way that we can understand it, it would really help. A graph would really go a long way, because we think they look neat, and we can show it to our children so that they will agree that we made the right decision.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours sincerely,

Malcolm Q. Swordfish
President