Question

Back in 2003, Ayana's cell phone plan charged her $10 every month plus 10 cents per minute she talked on the phone. Her sister Clarissa's plan was a little different. Clarissa's cell did not have a monthly fee, but instead charged 15 cents per minute she talked on the phone. At the end of their first month, Clarissa and Ayanna got their cell phone bills. They got charged the same number of minutes. How many minutes did they each spend talking on the phone that month?

(A) 50 minutes
(B) 60 minutes
(C) 70 minutes
(D) 80 minutes

Answer 1

After creating equations for both cell phone plans and setting them equal, the calculation suggests Ayana and Clarissa each talked for 200 minutes to have the same total cost. However, this does not match any of the given answer choices, indicating a possible mistake in the question or options.

Step-by-step explanation:

To solve for the number of minutes Ayana and Clarissa talked on the phone, we can set up two equations, one for each plan, using the rates provided in the question:

• Ayana: $10 + ($0.10 × minutes) = Total Cost
• Clarissa: $0.15 × minutes = Total Cost

Since both sisters were charged for the same number of minutes and the total cost was the same for both, we can set the equations equal to each other:

$10 + ($0.10 × minutes) = $0.15 × minutes

If we subtract $0.10 × minutes from both sides of the equation, we get:

$10 = $0.05 × minutes

To find the number of minutes, we divide both sides by $0.05:

minutes = $10 / $0.05

minutes = 200 minutes

However, none of the answer choices matches 200 minutes. It seems there is a mistake in the provided solution or options given in the question. Ayana and Clarissa could not have talked for 200 minutes and had the same total cost given the choices provided (A) 50 minutes, (B) 60 minutes, (C) 70 minutes, or (D) 80 minutes.