Question

Anand needs to hire a plumber. He's considering a plumber that charges an initial fee of $65 along with an hourly rate of $28. The plumber only charges for a whole number of hours. Anand would like to spend no more than $250, and he wonders how many hours of work he can afford. Let 'h' represent the whole number of hours that the plumber works. What is the maximum value of 'h' that Anand can afford?

a. 6 hours
b. 7 hours
c. 8 hours
d. 9 hours

Answer 1

Anand can afford a maximum of 6 hours of the plumber's work within his budget of $250. We derive this by subtracting the initial fee from the total budget and dividing by the hourly rate.

Step-by-step explanation:

Anand is considering hiring a plumber with an initial fee of $65 and an hourly rate of $28. To determine the maximum number of hours Anand can afford without exceeding a budget of $250, we use the equation:

Total Cost = Initial Fee + (Hourly Rate × Hours of Work)

In this case, we set up the inequality like so:

$65 + $28h ≤ $250

Subtracting the initial fee from both sides gives us:

$28h ≤ $185

Dividing both sides by the hourly rate:

h ≤ 6.607

Since the plumber only charges for a whole number of hours, we take the integer part of the result. Therefore, the maximum value of h Anand can afford is 6 hours.