Performance task in basic calculus

“Exploring Continuity
in Real-World Scenarios”

Submitted By:
Dhae Brell Scyphtrrail L. Riñon
Grade 11 – St. Thomas Aquinas

Submitted To:
Ms. Glydel V. Tamba
Teacher

March 2024
 INTRODUCTON

“Continuity of purpose is one of the most essential ingredients of happiness in the long
run, and for most men that comes chiefly through their work.” – Bertrand Russell

In life, continuity pertains to the life journey of each human being here on planet Earth.
Another related concept could also be seen in different real-life scenarios and various fields such
as economics, physics, biology, engineering, or any other related fields in which continuity plays
a significant role. In mathematics, a function is said to be continuous at a point if the limit if the
function a, x approaches that point from both directions, is equal to the value of the function at that
point without any break or holes in the graph. When these two concepts of continuity combined,
the most related real-life scenario is in business economics wherein the relationship between the
customer and the product also shows a continuity that could be attested in the inventory.

SCENARIO: Nicey Burger Junction’s Customer Analysis

Nicey Burger Junction is one of the famous burger junctions in MacArthur, Leyte and they
are open 24/7. This burger junction is owned by Roland Yu Laniba and was registered on Dec 21,
2020, with BNN 2352921. Its current status is DTI-Registered and has multiple branches across
the country.
 On February 26, 2024, Sunday at 6:00 am, my mother and I went to Nicey Burger Junction
in the MacArthur branch. I talked with their morning shift employee who was on duty that time,
from 6:00 am to 2:00 pm. Her name is Jelyn T. Abiso, and she is an all-around crew in their burger
junction; she is the cashier, the service crew, and the one who cooks their delicious Nicey Burgers.
Before I conducted my observations, I introduced myself first, my school, and the purpose of why
I went there to conduct an observation. I asked for her consent and luckily, she was very willing
to help. Nicey Burgers has delicious patties inside a soft bun bread, and the customer can customize
the sauce; ketchup, hot chili, and mayonnaise, which makes their burger nice just like their slogan,
“Everything Nice!” Since there are a lot of people who buy burgers in Nicey Burger Junction
every day which shows a continuity scenario, I went there to observe how many customers eat
their product every hour which causes their sales to continue to grow in every shift, especially their
employees can cook at least 6-12 burgers every hour depending on the number of customers they
have.

Given:

❖ Data on customer patterns in Nicey Burger Junction throughout the first 8 hours
morning shift of the day from 6:00 am to 2:00 pm.
Objective:
❖ To model the customer flow of Nicey Burger Junction and analyze its behavior.

GATHERED DATA:

Customers in Nicey Burger Junction

during Morning Shift
18

16

14

12

10

0
6:00-7:00 7:00-8:00 8:00-9:00 9:00-10:00 10:00-11:00 11:00-12:00 12:00-1:00 1:00-2:00

No. of Customers
SOLUTION:

1. Define the Function:

Using a piecewise function, let F(x) represent the number of people who stop by the area
to buy Nicey Burger at time x, where x is measured in hours within Mrs. Abiso’s morning shift
from 6:00 am to 2:00 pm. I have formulated my own piecewise function through my gathered data
where the function of:

❖ x can be use if x is less than or equal to the lowest number of customers which is 4.
❖ 1x if the lowest number of customers (4) is less than x and is less than or equal to the
highest number of customers (16).
❖ 4^2 if x is greater than or equal to the highest number of customers which is 16.

𝒙, 𝒊𝒇 𝒙 ≤ 𝟒
𝒇 (𝒙 ) = { 𝟏𝒙, 𝒊𝒇 𝟒 < 𝒙 ≤ 𝟏𝟔
𝟒𝟐 , 𝒊𝒇 𝒙 ≥ 𝟏𝟔

2. Model the function:

Using the piecewise function, I have determined that the F(x) can be represented
by a continuous function using the Desmos Graphing Calculator. I input every condition
of the piecewise function into every equation box, and each function created a line that
represents the data in the graph.
 3. Analyze the graph:
Since Nicey Burger Junction is open 24/7, the morning shift starts at 6:00 am in the
morning until 2:00 pm in the afternoon. Using the Desmos Graphing Calculator, I graph F(x) and
observe its smooth transitions of the number of customers throughout the morning shift of Mrs.
Abiso. In the graph, I have observed that the lines are all connected, and this graph has a similarity
with the data I have gathered wherein the number of customers in Nicey Burger Junction continue
to increase from 6:00 am to 12:00 pm. When it reached its peak hour, the number of customers
remains constant or became stable already from 12:00 pm until 2:00 pm. Therefore, there were an
increase in the number of customers in Nicey Burger Junction every hour within the morning shift,
indicating a continuity in a real-life scenario.

4. Identify critical points:

While the number of customers in Nicey Burger Junction remains continuous for the whole
morning shift, I notice a potential points of discontinuity during peak hours wherein the number
of customers remains constant and has a possibility of being a discontinuous during the afternoon
shift until midnight shift. Since Nicey Burger Junction is open 24/7, I used piecewise function to
conclude this prediction since I have not observed the number of customers during the afternoon
shift. Thus, this potential of discontinuity may occur during rest hours of customers which are
commonly during night shift to midnight shift, the reason behind that is logic, wherein most people
do not buy fast foods anymore during these times since it is not good for one’s health.

5. Proposed solutions:
In order to prevent discontinuity during night shift to midnight shift in the increasing
number of customers, I suggest that Nicey Burger Junction should also offer other side products
to sell such as hot coffee, which can attract other customers who are still awake during nighttime
to visit their branch. This can be an effective marketing strategy because even if the customers are
just after the coffee, there is still a possibility that they would be tempted to buy burger as a pair
midnight snack for their coffee, especially that it is the most trending product nowadays for
everyone. Through this marketing strategy, the continuity of customers in Nicey Burger Junction
would be consistent or increase over time.

CONCLUSION:
In building such business, the owner must be smart, wise, and innovative to attract more
customers and prevent the business from being bankrupt due to lack of customers or the constant
presence of discontinuity in terms of the customers in a business. Additionally, using piecewise
function, the owner can predict the stability of his business by predicting the number of his
customers in every shift, whether it would increase continuously or there would be a discontinuity.
 DOCUMENTATION

February 26, 2024 (6:00 am - 2:00 pm)