A government agency is having problems with personal telephone calls made during working hours.Because each minute of a personal call costs the agency $0.50 in wasted wages,it has decided to hire operators to monitor calls.The agency wants to hire the number of operators that will minimize the total cost of personal calls. Based on the above information,if operators receive $300 a week,how many operators should the agency hire?
A)0
B)1
C)3

Question

A government agency is having problems with personal telephone calls made during working hours.Because each minute of a personal call costs the agency $0.50 in wasted wages,it has decided to hire operators to monitor calls.The agency wants to hire the number of operators that will minimize the total cost of personal calls.  Based on the above information,if operators receive $300 a week,how many operators should the agency hire?
A)0 
B)1 
C)3

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

To minimize the total cost of personal calls, the agency needs to balance the cost of hiring operators with the cost of wasted wages. If one operator is hired, they can only monitor one call at a time, and if there are multiple personal calls happening simultaneously, some will still result in wasted wages. However, if multiple operators are hired, they can monitor multiple calls at once and reduce the amount of wasted wages. To calculate the number of operators needed, divide the total weekly cost of hiring operators ($300) by the cost per minute of a personal call ($0.50): 
$300 / $0.50 = 600 minutes 
A single operator can monitor 480 minutes of calls per week (assuming they work 8 hours per day) so the agency would need to hire at least 2 operators to cover 600 minutes. However, it is likely that there will be times when multiple personal calls are happening simultaneously, so hiring 3 or more operators would provide better coverage and reduce wasted wages even further. Therefore, choice C (3) is the best option.

A Government Agency Is Having Problems with Personal Telephone Calls