Equation: 𝑦 = −𝑥 2 + 8𝑥 − 15

Business: Shelter owner in Japan in 2010’s

How to Solve by Factoring:

Step 1) divide both sides by -1 to make 𝑥 2

positive: 𝑥 2 − 7𝑥 + 6 = 0

Step 2) to factor the equation, find two numbers

that multiply to 15 and add to 8. Those numbers

are 5 and 3: 5 + 3 = 8 and 5 ∗ 3 = 15

Step 3) use the 0-product property to solve the

equation:

- (𝑥 + 5)(𝑥 + 3) = 0

- 𝑥 + 5 = 0 and 𝑥 + 3 = 0

- 𝑥 = 5 and 𝑥 = 3 (the business fails at the end of the 3rd and 5th year

Finding the Vertex: −𝑥 2 + 8𝑥 − 15

−𝑏 8 8
Step 1) the X-coordinate of the vertex is 2𝑎 thus −2(−1) = − 2 = 4. (substitute 4 for x to find the

y-coordinate

Step 2) −42 + 8(4) − 15

= −16 + 32 − 15

= −16 − 15 = 1
= (4,1)

The parabola opens downwards, meaning my business was the most profitable in the 4th year,

whilst earning 1 million dollars.

Explanation of the Graph:

I had opened a shelter in Japan in 2010, where around 25,000 homeless lived on the streets.

Unfortunately, and surprisingly, my business didn’t do great at first. Most of the homeless fled to

the internet cafés and capsule hotels. Sure, I did have some residents, but it wasn’t enough to

keep the business going. That was, until March of 2011, when the Tōhoku earthquake hit. With

all the destruction and damage, the homeless rate was higher than ever. However, my shelter still

was not very common. I considered giving up and taking down my business. However, the cafés

and hotels were soon running out of room, so slowly more people were turning to my shelter. In

2014 my shelter had become very full. I earned up to 1 million dollars. However, most of the

earthquake victims were recovering and building new homes. Though that was good, my

business was slowly going back to failure. When most of the victims were able to go back to

newly built houses, the original homeless fled back to the cafés and hotels. By the time 2015

came, I nearly had to go out of business. Though the population in japan is growing, the

homeless rate is going down, and I may have to shut down if I do not get enough residents!