Question

When a person puts a quarter in a parking meter, the person can park a car for 15

minutes. The amount of time a person can park is proportional to the amount of
money put in the parking meter.
Rita put coins in the parking meter to park for 1 hour and 24 minutes.
What amount of money is required to park for exactly 1 hour and 24 minutes? Show
or explain the steps you used to determine the answer.
Enter your answer and your work or explanation in the space provided.

Answer 1

$1.50

Explanation:

• $0.25 is needed for 15 minutes

For 1 hour 24 minutes

• 1 hour 24 minutes lies between 1 hour 15 minutes and 1 hour 30 minutes
• As more time than 1h 15min is needed, payment for 1 hour 30 minutes needs to be given
• Cost = 1h 30min / 15min x $0.25
• Cost = 90min / 15 min x $0.25
• Cost = 6 x $0.25
• Cost = $1.50

Answer 2

$1.40

Explanation:

`\textsf{Given: 1 quarter (25 cents) = 15 minutes of parking}`

`\implies \textsf{Cost of 1 minute of parking}=\sf (25)/(15)=(5)/(3)\:cents`

`\textsf{1 hour = 60 minutes}`

`\implies \textsf{1 hour 24 minutes} = \sf 60 + 24 = 84\: \sf minutes`

`\begin{aligned}\implies \textsf{Cost of 84 minutes of parking} & = \textsf{Cost of 1 minute of parking} * \sf 84\\& =\sf (5)/(3) * 84\\& =\sf 140\:\sf cents\\& =\sf \$ 1.40\end{aligned}`

The question asks for the money required to park for exactly 1 hour 24 minutes, which is explained above.

However, if the parking meter only allows increments of 15 minutes of parking, then Rita would need to pay for 1 hour 30 minutes of parking since

15 × 5 = 1 hours 15 minutes

15 × 6 = 1 hours 30 minutes

Therefore, this would cost $0.25 × 6 = $1.50