Question

A company is looking to hire a lawyer. One law firm states that their legal fees can be determined using the expression 380x + 25000, where x is the number of hours of legal assistance. A second law firm states that their legal fees can be determined using the expression 440x + 17000. The company president wants to know when the legal fees would cost the same for each law firm. What number of hours of legal assistance makes the equation 380x + 25000 = 440x +17000 true? Round your answer to the nearest whole number.

Answer 1

For x = 133 hours of legal assistance both the firms charges the same amount of legal fees.

Explanation:

In LAW FIRM FIRST:

The legal fees is of the form:

380 x + 25000, where x is the number of hours of legal assistance.

In LAW FIRM SECOND:

The legal fees is of the form:

440 x + 17000, where x is the number of hours of legal assistance.

Now, let us assume for x working hours, both firm charges the same amount.

⇒380 x + 25000 = 440 x +17000

Solving for x, we get:

25,000 - 17,000 = 440 x - 380 x

or, 60 x = 8,000

or, x = 8000/60 = 133.33

or, x is approximately equal to 133 hours.

Hence, for x = 133 hours of legal assistance both the firms charges the same amount of legal fees.