Student Name:

Predicting Movie Ticket Costs Activity

It can be expensive to go to the movie theater. The scatter plot shown here gives the average cost

in U.S. dollars of a movie ticket in the U.S. for each year from 1980 to 2013. Using this data,

how much do you think a movie ticket will cost in the years 2020 and 2030? Download the

worksheet and complete. Submit it to your teacher for a grade.

1. How has the cost of a movie ticket changed over the last 30 years? What has been

the general trend? How can you tell this from the graph? (2 points)
The cost of a movie ticket has been gradually increasing

𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑌
Change in movie ticket=𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑋

𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑡

= 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠

7.5−2.7
=2010−1980

4.8
= 30

=+0.16 thus the positive gradient is due to increased cost.

2. What years did the cost of movie ticket decrease compared to the year before? How can

you tell from the graph when the price is decreasing? (2 points)

In year between1990 and 1995, the cost of movie is seen to decrease due to bad market

between the trough year and recovery year. When the price is decreasing in the market it means

that the good in the market is lacking some standards thus the company has to change quality to

increase the price steady.

3. There was a time where the cost of a movie ticket stayed relatively the same over several

years. For what years did the cost stay relatively the same? How can you tell this from the

graph? (2 points)
 From the year 1990-1995 the cost price is rigid. The market is seen to have been

experiencing cost price stability because the average price per year from (1990-1995) is

constant all through.

1990-price is 4.2 and 1995 is 4.2,

4.2−4.2
Gradient =1995−1990

0
= the gradient is undefined.
5

4. The graph could be divided up into three different periods of relatively consistent ticket

price

Change: The years 1980 – 1988, 1989 – 1993 and 1994 – 2011. Can you find a typical rate of

change in the price of a ticket for each of these time periods? In other words, on average,

by how much did the price of a ticket increase by each year during each of these time

periods? (2 points)

Rate for period one (1980-1988) = (change in cost)/ (change in year) where in 1980, cost was

2.7 and 1988, cost was 4.2= (4.2-2.7)/ (1988-1980) =1.5/8

=0.19×100% =19%

4.1−4
In (1989 – 1993), rate of change is =1993−1989

0.1
=4

= 0.025*100%=2.5%
 7.9−4.2
In the year (1994 – 2011) =2011−1994

3.7
= 7

=0.528*100%=52.8%

The price of tickets increased in above rate.

5. Predict the cost of a ticket in 2012 – 2015. Plot your predictions and give your actual

predictions for each year below. How did you determine how much a ticket would cost each

year? (2 points)

Cost in 2012=8

Cost in 2013=8.5

Cost in 2014=9

Cost in 2015=9.5

The change in cost rate is seen to be (9.5 − 8⁄2015 − 2012)=0.5*100%=50%.

By determining the rate of change in cost between the three years we find the gradient between

given years in the scatter diagram.

cost($) vs year
9.6
9.4
9.2
9
8.8
cost($)
8.6
Linear (cost($))
8.4
8.2
8
7.8
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
6. What might have been the cost of a ticket during the years 1975 – 1979? Plot your

estimates on the grid and give your actual predictions for each year below. How did you

determine how much a ticket would cost each year? (2 points)

Estimated

I determined by finding the gradient of the line of best fit.

𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡
⁄𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠

2.5−2
=1979−1976

0.5
=3

=0.167*100%=16.7% the price was changing at rate of 16.7 %

per year.

7. Find a line of best fit to represent the data. Let y = ticket price and x = the number of

years since 1980 (1980 is year zero, 1981 is year one). Approximate a line to represent the

data, a slope, a y- intercept and equation that models your line of best fit. (2 points)
We are going to get the gradient from 1980-2015.

1980=2.7

2015=9.5

𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑌𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑠

=𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑋 𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑠

9.5−2.7
=2015−1980

6.8
=
35

=0.1943.

We take our Y intercept to be$ 1.9

Thus, the equation of line of best fit is Y=0.1943X+1.9

8. Use your equation (or graph or a table) to predict the cost of a movie ticket in the years

2020 and 2030. Be sure to show how you came to each answer. (2 points)

If the rate of change is predicted to be 0.1943, thus the cost will be (2020-2015)

= (0.1943*5) +1.9=2.8715

Cost in 2015=9.5 thus in 2020 it will be =9.5+2.8715=$12.4

In 2030 it will be = (2030-2020)

= (0.1943*10) +1.9=3.843

= 12.4+3.843=$16.243