Question

11. An amusement park charges $45 per person for admission. A season pass

costs $112 per person.
a. Write the first five terms of an arithmetic sequence that represents the
total cost of admission for the number of visits in a season.
b. How many times does a person have to visit the park for a season pass
to be the better deal? Explain.

Answer 1

To represent the total cost of admission for the number of visits in a season, an arithmetic sequence can be created with a common difference of $45. The cost of admission for the first visit is $45, and the sequence can be extended to five terms. To determine when a season pass becomes the better deal, compare the total cost of admission with the cost of a season pass. A person would have to visit the park at least 3 times for a season pass to be the better deal.

Step-by-step explanation:

a. To represent the total cost of admission for the number of visits in a season, we can create an arithmetic sequence. The common difference will be the cost of admission each time a person visits the park, which is $45. The first term can be the cost of admission for the first visit, which is also $45. So, the arithmetic sequence will be:

1. Total: $45
2. Total: $90
3. Total: $135
4. Total: $180
5. Total: $225

b. To find out how many times a person has to visit the park for a season pass to be the better deal, we need to compare the total cost of admission for the number of visits with the cost of a season pass. In this case, the season pass costs $112 per person, so we need to find the number of visits that would equal or exceed the cost of a season pass. From the arithmetic sequence we created in part a, we can see that a person would have to visit the park at least 3 times for the total cost of admission to equal or exceed the cost of a season pass. Therefore, a person would have to visit the park at least 3 times for a season pass to be the better deal.