Final answer:
To write an equation that models the total cost of a car wash as a function of the number of minutes spent washing a vehicle, we need to consider the flat fee for the first 8 minutes and the additional charge for each extra minute.
Step-by-step explanation:
To write an equation that models the total cost of a car wash as a function of the number of minutes spent washing a vehicle, we need to consider the flat fee for the first 8 minutes and the additional charge for each extra minute. Let's let x represent the number of minutes beyond the first 8 minutes. The equation can be written as:
y = flat fee + additional charge per minute * (x)
Since we know that Gina took 12 minutes to wash her car and it cost her a total of $5, we can substitute these values into the equation to find the values of the flat fee and the additional charge per minute.
In this case, we have: 5 = flat fee + additional charge per minute * (12 - 8)