Question

A car rental company rented out 8 cars in its first month. The number of cars it rented doubled each month. What was the total number of cars the company rented out for the first 5 months?

Answer 1

248

Explanation:

A car rental company rented out 8 cars in its first month.

The number of cars it rented doubled each month.

The given situation forms G.P.

a = first term = 8

r = common ratio = 2

Formula of sum of first nth term in G.P. =
`S_n=(a(1-r^n)/(1-r)`

Now we are supposed to find total number of cars the company rented out for the first 5 months.

Substitute n = 5

`S_5=(8(1-2^5))/(1-2)`

`S_5=248`

Hence the total number of cars the company rented out for the first 5 months is 248.

Answer 2

The total number of cars rented for the first 5 months is
8 + 16 + 32 + 64 + 128 = 248