Unit 2 Project

Final Due Date, Typed and Beautiful: 12:00 Noon, 1/23/2015

Project Background (connection to real life)

In 1994, 25 million people in the United States owned a cell phone. By September of 2006 the number of
cell phone users in the United States grew to 219.4 million people1. Cell phones have tipped from being a little used
device owned only by tech-geeks into an imagined necessity. Even youth are impacted by this change; the 11 to
14 age group grew from 14% having cell phones in 2002 to more than 50% in 20061.
Living in the cell phone age means that you and the rest of the cell phone using population will be replacing
your cell phone every 18 months (on average)1. In your lifetime you will be spending a great deal of money on cell
phones and cell phone service. As an intelligent consumer and creative student, you can apply the general concepts
of Algebra II and specifically the concepts related to piecewise functions to determine the best cell phone plans for
different situations.
Due Dates and Data
Due Dates
Everything that can be typed, should be typed. ALL calculations
should be kept in an Appendix section at the end of the project.
An example of each type of calculation should be included with
your typed responses.
Question 1- 1/5/15
Question 2- 1/9/15
Question 3- 1/14/15
Question 4- 1/19\15
Final- 1/23/15

Data
Plan 1:T-Mobile: $80 unlimited Data
Plan 2: ATT: $65 for 3G; $15 per overage G
Plan 3: Sprint: $35 for 1G; $0.05 per overage MB
Plan 4: Sprint: $55 for 6G; $0.05 per overage MB

Project Description
Question 1: When does it make the most sense to use Plan 1? Plan 2? Plan 3? Plan 4?
1) Write a piece-wise function for each data plan that relates data used to overall cost. Explain the significance of each term.
2) Create a single table that can compare the cost of the different cell phone plan if the following data amounts are used:
0G, 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, 6G, 7G

3) Create a full-page, color graph (by hand or by computer) that shows the cost as a function of minutes used for each one of the plans.
4) Find the coordinates of intersection for every plan (6 total points). Show your work for each. Explain your procedure.
5) Use evidence from the graph, the table and the equation to answer the question.
Question 2: What happens if the companies changes the plans?
For each of the following, name this transformation and describe the changes in the graph, the table and the equation.
6) The base fee for Plan 2 changes from 65 to 75.
7) The base fee for Plan 3 changes from 35 to 25.
8) The overage fee for Plan 4 changes from $0.05 to $0.10.
9) The overage fee for Plan 3 changes from $0.05 to $0.04.
10) The base data for Plan 2 changes from 3G to 4G.
11) The base data for Plan 4 change from 6G to 5G.
Question 3: Now that you are an expert on these plans, friends and neighbors are coming to ask you for help. Which plan is the most practical AND
financially responsible for their situation? Support your answers with evidence from the graph, table or equation.
12) The seniors are going to college in the fall. Adrian has no idea what plan he should get but he knows that he generally uses about 1.5G.
13) Mr. Silberman is getting married. He and his new wife are going to share the data for a plan. Currently Mr. Silberman uses around 2G and
his soon-to-be wife uses about 2G.
14) You are getting a new cell phone plan. Find out how much data you currently use per month.
Question 4: Verizon Wireless is having a competition to design a new plan. The most logical plan, with the best reasoning will be adopted by the
company, and a $5000 scholarship given to the winner. What plan would you design?
15) The plan will be targeted at groups that do not normally use data on a cell phone frequently, specifically young children and elderly. These
people mainly use the phone for emergencies. As a result, they use on average .5G per month. List the components of your plan
(monthly cost, amount of data and overage rate (Do you want to charge per G or per MB?).
16) Justify your choices. Write a paragraph or two convincing Verizon Wireless that your choices are the best.
17) Compare your new plan with the existing given plans. Write a piece-wise function for your new plan. Graph it with the other plans. Find
the coordinates of intersection.
18) It is important that your plan will not compete against the existing plans. Explain when someone should purchase the new plan.