Question

Samuel is trying to decide between two laser printers, one manufactured by

Hewlett-Packard, the other by Brother. Both have similar features and warranties, so price is the determining factor. The Hewlett-Packard costs $200, and printing costs are approximately $0.03 per page. The Brother costs $240, and printing costs are approximately $0.01 per page. How many
pages need to be printed for the cost of the two printers to be the same? Show work.

Answer 1

Answer: Let's call the number of pages printed "x". After printing x pages, the total cost for the Hewlett-Packard printer will be:

$200 + $0.03 * x

And the total cost for the Brother printer will be:

$240 + $0.01 * x

We want to find the number of pages "x" such that the cost of the two printers is the same, i.e., when:

$200 + $0.03 * x = $240 + $0.01 * x

We can isolate x by subtracting $240 from both sides and subtracting $0.01 * x from both sides:

$200 - $240 + $0.03 * x - $0.01 * x = 0

$-40 + $0.02 * x = 0

$0.02 * x = 40

x = 2000

So, the number of pages that need to be printed for the cost of the two printers to be the same is 2000 pages.

Explanation: