Black Friday Demand Curve & Profit Maximization

Bring real-world math to life with this engaging Black Friday Pricing & Profit Modeling Worksheet designed for 8th-grade students. In this interactive activity, students analyze a price–demand scatterplot, build a linear model using sliders, and use their model to predict demand, revenue, and profit at different price points. Their final goal is to determine the price that maximizes profit, just like real pricing analysts do in major companies.

Students explore key concepts from 8.SP (scatterplots), and financial literacy, making this a powerful cross-curricular activity that blends math, economics, and real-world decision-making.

⭐ What Students Will Do

• Examine a scatterplot showing how product demand changes with price.
• Adjust slope (m) and y-intercept (b) sliders to create a best-fit linear model.
• Aim for a model error below 80, demonstrating an accurate trend line.
• Write the equation of their linear model based on m and b.
• Use their model to predict demand at realistic price points.
• Calculate:
• Demand using the linear model
• Revenue = Price × Demand
• Profit = Revenue – (Cost × Demand)
• Watch Demand, Revenue, and Profit curves update in real time.
• Identify the price between $30 and $90 that produces maximum profit.
• Reflect on how price affects demand, revenue, and overall business success.

⭐ Why Teachers Love This Activity

• Completely real-world and instantly relatable
• Perfect holiday/Black Friday theme
• Deeply interactive with sliders, auto-updating charts, and tables
• Strengthens conceptual understanding of slope, intercept, and modeling
• Integrates financial literacy in a natural way
• Makes linear functions meaningful instead of abstract