Question

Sam needs to make a long-distance call from a pay phone. With his prepaid phone card, he will be charged $1.00 to connect and $0.50 per minute. If he places a collect call with the operator he will be charged $3.00 to connect and $0.25 per minute. Write a system to represent this situation.

Answer 1

Answer: The required system of equations representing the given situation is

`y=1+0.5x\\\\y=3+0.25x`

Step-by-step explanation: Given that Sam needs to make a long-distance call from a pay phone.

We are to write a system to represent the situation.

Let x represent the number of minutes Sam talked on the phone and y represents the total amount that he paid for the call.

According to the given information,

with prepaid phone card, Sam will be charged $1.00 to connect and $0.50 per minute.

So, the equation representing this situation is

`y=1+0.5x~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(i)`

Also, if Sam places a collect call with the operator he will be charged $3.00 to connect and $0.25 per minute.

So, the equation representing this situation is

`y=3+0.25x~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(ii)`

Thus, the required system of equations representing the given situation is

`y=1+0.5x\\\\y=3+0.25x`