A business owner buys lunch for employees once every month. The owner has bought lunch for 18
employees for the last three months and the total costs are shown
First month: $147.98
Second month: $152.17
Third month: $165.63
Write an equation that can be used to estimate y, the average monthly cost, in dollars, to buy lunch
for x employees.
Use your equation to estimate the total cost of a monthly lunch for 26 employees. Show your work or
explain your response.