Final answer:
Nicole charges a flat fee plus a rate per hour for babysitting. The correct answer to the question 'What is the rate (slope)?' is B) $5 per hour, which is the amount she charges for each hour of babysitting.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question refers to a situation where Nicole charges for babysitting based on a flat fee and an hourly rate. The linear equation for this scenario would look like y = 3 + 5x, where y is the total amount charged, x is the number of hours of babysitting, and the number 5 represents the rate per hour, which means Nicole charges $5 per hour for her babysitting services. The flat fee of $3 is the y-intercept of the equation, meaning that is the amount charged when x (the number of hours) is 0.
The equation that represents Nicole's babysitting charges is y = 3 + 5x, where y is the total amount charged and x is the number of hours. In this equation, the slope represents the rate at which the charges increase per hour. The slope of the equation is 5, which means that Nicole charges $5 per hour.