Question

Alexandra needs to rent a car while on vacation. The rental company charges $17.95, plus 15 cents for each mile driven. If Alexandra only has $50 to spend on the car rental, what is the maximum number of miles she can drive?

Answer 1

Answer: 213 2/3 miles

Explanation:

first we need to set up an equation to solve

let your equation be in y=mx+b form since we are using a rate

Since this is a word problem, dissect it and match each part with a variable in the slope-intercept equation

y = Budget

m = rate

x = how many miles she can go -- the unknown variable

b = the initial fee

Your equation should be: 50 = 0.15x + 17.95

We want to soIve for x now so first get rid of the coefficient not attached to it

To do this, you do the inverse function of addition, which is subtraction

Subtract 17.95 from both sides

Your new equation will be: 32.05 = 0.15x

0.15 is still attached to x, so we want to do the inverse function of multiplication, which is division

divide both sides by 0.15

Your final answer: 213 2/3 miles