Question

Julie arrives in New York City. She takes a taxi to her hotel. The taxi driver charges a drop of fee of $25 plus charges $0.42 per mile. Write a linear equation that models this situation. If her hotel is 42 miles from the airport, how much did she pay her taxi to drop her off at her hotel?

Answer 1

We are given a problem that can be solved using a linear equation model. To do that, let's remember the general form of a linear equation:

$y=mx+b$

Where "m" is the slope and "b" the y-intercept.

Let "y" be the amount to pay and "x" number of miles. Since the initial charge is $25, this means that b = 25. Since we are told that $0.42 per miles is charged. This means that the total cost is the cost per miles by the number of miles plus the initial cost, that is:

$y=0.42x+25$

Now we are asked about the cost for 42 miles, that is "x = 42". Replacing in the equation we get:

$\begin{gathered} y=0.42(42)+25 \\ y=42.64 \end{gathered}$

Therefore, the cost to go to her hotel is $42.64