The Sugar Sweet Company is going to transport its sugar to market. It will cost \( \$ 3500 \) to rent trucks plus \( \$ 150 \) for each ton of sugar transported. The total cost, \( C \) (in dollars \( ) \) for transporting at tons is given by the following function. \[ C(\mathrm{~m})=150 \mathrm{~m}+3500 \] Answer the following questions. (a) What is the total cost of transporting 12 tons? (b) If the total cost is \( \$ 7100 \), how many tons is the company transporting? \( \square \) tons

To answer your questions, let's start with the calculations based on the provided cost function \( C(m) = 150m + 3500 \). (a) To find the total cost of transporting 12 tons, we can substitute \( m = 12 \) into the cost function: \[ C(12) = 150(12) + 3500 \] \[ C(12) = 1800 + 3500 \] \[ C(12) = 5300 \] So, the total cost of transporting 12 tons is **$5300**. (b) If the total cost is \( \$ 7100 \), we can set up the equation: \[ 7100 = 150m + 3500 \] Now, let's solve for \( m \): \[ 7100 - 3500 = 150m \] \[ 3600 = 150m \] \[ m = \frac{3600}{150} \] \[ m = 24 \] Thus, the company is transporting **24 tons**.