Final answer:
You must drive more than 40 miles for the Honda Civic to be more cost-effective than the Ford. This is found by setting up equations comparing the total costs for each car and solving for the mileage where the costs are equal.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find out how many miles you must drive for the Honda Civic to be a better option compared to the Ford, you need to set up an equation to compare the total costs of driving each car.
The cost to drive the Honda is given as $15 plus $0.50 per mile, while the cost to drive the Ford is $25 plus $0.25 per mile. Let m be the number of miles driven. The cost equations will look like this:
- Honda: Cost = 15 + 0.50m
- Ford: Cost = 25 + 0.25m
To find the number of miles where both costs are the same, we set the equations equal to each other and solve for m :
15 + 0.50m = 25 + 0.25m
Now, subtract 0.25m from both sides to get:
15 + 0.25m = 25
Subtract 15 from both sides:
0.25m = 10
Dividing both sides by 0.25 gives us:
m = 40
Thus, you must drive more than 40 miles for the Honda Civic to be the more economical option.