Question

A plumber charges a customer a one-time service fee of $79, $62 per hour for labor, and a surcharge of $15 per hour due to the call being an emergency.

Write an expression to represent the total charges for the plumber in two different ways. Let h represent the number of hours the job takes.

Answer 1

As a plumber charges a customer a one-time service fee of $ 79, $ 62 per hour for labor, and a surcharge of $ 15 per hour due to the call being an emergency, to write an expression to represent the total charges for the plumber in two different ways, with H representing the number of hours the job takes, the following equations should be formulated:

Option 1:

Fixed amount + amount per hour multiplied by the number of hours + emergency amount multiplied by the number of hours = X

79 + 62H + 15H = X

Option 2:

Fixed amount + sum of emergency amount and the amount per hour multiplied by the number of hours = X

79 + ((62 + 15) x H) = X