Problem: Your favorite dog groomer charges according to your dogs weight.

If your dog is 15
pounds and under, the groomer charges $35. If your dog is between 15 and 40 pounds, she charges
$40. If your dog is over 40 pounds, she charges $40, plus an additional $2 for each pound. (a) Write a
piecewise function that describes what your dog groomer charges. (b) Graph the function. (c) What
would the groomer charge if your cute dog weighs 60 pounds

Solution: (a) We see that the boundary points are 15 and 40, since these are the weights where
prices change. Since we have two boundary points, well have three equations in our piecewise function.

We have to start at 0, since dogs have to weigh over 0 pounds: We are looking for the answers (how
much the grooming costs) to the questions (how much the dog weighs) for the three ranges of
prices. The first two are just flat fees ($35 and $40, respectively). The last equation is a little trickier; the
groomer charges $40 plus $2 for each pound over 40. Lets try real numbers: if your dog weighs 60
pounds, she will charge $40 plus $2 times 20 (60 40). Well turn this into an equation: 40 + 2(x 40),
which simplifies to 2x 40 (see how 2 is the slope?). So the whole piecewise function is: