Question

James called his pen pal in England on World Hello day .The cost of the call was $7.75 . The charge for the first minute was $ 1. Each extra minute cost $ 0.25 . Write an equation and solve it to find out how long James call lasted.

Answer 1

Given:

Total cost of the call = $7.75

The charge for the first minute was $ 1. Each extra minute cost $ 0.25.

To find:

The equation for this situation and the call duration.

Solution:

Let x be the call duration in minutes.

Remaining minutes after first one minute = x-1

Cost of first minute = $1

Cost of 1 extra minute = $0.25

Cost of (x-1) extra minutes = $0.25(x-1)

Total cost of call = Cost of first minute + Cost of extra minutes

`7.75=1+0.25(x-1)`

`7.75=1+0.25x-0.25`

`7.75=0.25x+0.75`

`7.75-0.75=0.25x`

`7=0.25x`

Divide both sides by 0.25.

`(7)/(0.25)=x`

`28=x`

Therefore, the required equation is
`7.75=1+0.25(x-1)` and call duration is 28 minutes.