Question

Steve has received the bid to repair his washing machine. The company will charge a trip charge of $75.00 and bill at $60 per hour. He has $200 set aside, so can afford $200 for the repair. What is the maximum number of hours he can afford for repair?

a. 3 hours
b. 2.5 hours
c. 4 hours
d. 5 hours

Answer 1

Steve can afford a maximum of b) 2.5 hours for the washing machine repair after accounting for the trip charge within his budget of $200.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question asks to calculate the maximum number of hours Steve can afford for the washing machine repair, given a fixed cost for the trip and an hourly charge for the labor. First, we need to subtract the trip charge from the total budget to find out how much money is left for the hourly repair costs. The trip charge is $75.00, and Steve has $200 set aside for the repair. Therefore, $200 - $75 = $125 is left for labor. Since the hourly rate is $60 per hour, we divide the remaining budget by the hourly rate: $125 ÷ $60 ≈ 2.08 hours. Steve can afford a maximum of 2 hours of repair before exceeding his budget which rounds down to the nearest half-hour as labor is unlikely to be billed in smaller increments than that. Therefore, the correct answer is b. 2.5 hours.