Question

Maria plans to rent a boat. The boat rental costs $60per hour, and she will also have to pay for a watersafety course that costs $10. Maria wants to spend nomore than $230 for the rental and the course. If theboat rental is available only for a whole number ofhours, what is the maximum number of hours forwhich Maria can rent the boat?

Answer 1

To solve this problem, it is necessary to write an equation that describes the situation.

In this case, the boat rental costs $60 per hour, it means that after h hours it will cost 60 times h. Additionally, she needs to pay a safety course that costs $10. The expression that describes this situation is:

$c=60h+10$

To find the number of hours Maria can rent the boat, replace c for 280 which is the amount of money she has, and solve for h:

$\begin{gathered} 280=60h+10 \\ 270=60h \\ \frac{270}{60}=h \\ 4.5=h \end{gathered}$

In theory, she can rent the boat for 4.5 hours. But, as she only can rent it for a whole number of hours, then she can rent the boat for 4 hours.