Question

Sam needs to make a long-distance call from apay phone.With his prepaid phone card, he will be charged $1.00 to connect and $0.50 per minute.If he places a collect call with the operator he will be charged $3.00 to connect and $0.25 per minute.In how many minutes will the phone card and the operator-assisted call cost the same?

A.5 minutes
B. 51/3 min.
C. 8 min.
D. 16 min.

Answer 1

The answer is 8

Explanation:

Lets consider that Sam's call will last x minutes in total. Then, equations for cost will be as follows:

A Pay Phone Cost:
`p(x)=1+0,5*x`

Operator Cost:
`o(x)=3+0,25*x`

If we make both costs equal, the equation will be:

`1+0,5*x=3+0,25*x\\0,25*x=2\\x=8`

Sam's call need to last 8 minutes to make payphone cost and operator cost same.