Question

Jack is renting a boat to go fishing with his friends. One rental company

charges a fee of $20 plus $13.50 an hour. A second rental company charges a fee
of $6 plus $17 an hour.
Let x represent the number of hours the boat is rented and y represent the
total cost of the rental. Write a system of equations to represent the problem
situation.
Determine when the first rental company will be a better deal for Jack than the
second rental company.

Answer 1

The first rental deal will be better after 4 hours

Explanation:

First, model this situation with two equations:

`y = 20 + 13.50x\\y = 6 + 17x`

In order to find when one deal surpasses the other, set the equations equal to each other.

`20 + 13.50x = 6 + 17x`

Isolate variables

`14 = 3.5x`

Divide both sides.

`x = 4`