Let x denote the number of months that have elapsed since the first of the year and y the price of a bottle of soda (in cents). Since y changes at a constant rate with respect to x, the function relating y to x must be linear, and its graph is a straight line. Since the price y increases by 2 each time x increases by 1, the slope of the line must be 2. The fact that 10 months after the first of the year (November 1), the price was 156 cents ($1.56) tells us that the line passes through the point (10, 156). Now we can use the point-slope formula to express y as a function of x: