Question

Paul joins a gym. He paid $50 as an initial fee and then pays $30 each month. Set up and solve an equation to find out how long has he been at the gym if he has paid $260

Answer 1

the equation you would use: y = 30x + 50

(x= months)

(y= cost)

then you would plug in the cost, 260, for y to get

260 = 30x + 50 --> 7 months

Explanation:

I got the equation from the slope intercept form y = mx +b.

The 30 is the m, or slope, because you end up paying the same amount every month. The b value would be the 50 that he initially pays because that never changes.

Since you're given the y-value of 260, you just plug it in to your new equation of y = 30x + 50 to solve for x.

when solving the equation with the plugged in numbers, (260 = 30x + 50) first subtract 50 from both sides to get 210 = 30x,

then divide by 30 on both sides (to keep the equations equal to each other and find x) --> you should get 7

Therefore, Paul has been at the gym seven months if he has paid $260.