Question

Cell phone plan A costs 79 per month and comes with a free 500 phone. Cell phone plan B costs 50 per month but does not come with a phone. If you buy the 500 phone and choose plan B, how many months is it until your cost is the same as plan A's?

Answer 1

Answer: it will take 25 months

Explanation:

Let x represent the number of months that it will take for the cost of both plans to be the same.

Cell phone Plan A costs $70 per month and comes with a free $500 phone. This means that the total cost of x months with plan A would be

70 × x = $70x

Cell phone plan B costs 50 per month but does not come with a phone. If you buy the 500 phone and choose plan B, then the total cost of x months with plan B would be

500 + 50 × x = 500 + 50x

To determine the number of months until your cost is the same as Plan A's, we would equate both costs. It becomes

70x = 500 + 50x

70x - 50x = 500

20x = 500

x = 500/20 =25