a Write the equation in the form of y=mx+b, where the value of m is the rate of change and b is the initial or starting value of y.
B
b Use the equation from Part A.
C
c Write an equation for the second company and solve each equation for x.
A
a y=44x+48
B
b $312
C
c At the first company.
Practice makes perfect
a Let's assume x is the number of months and y is the total cost. Since the total cost changes at a constant rate with respect to the number of months, the equation given below will help us to write a linear equation.
y= mx+ b
The value of m is the constant rate of change and b is the initial or starting value of y. According to the given information, the constant rate of change is $44 and the initial value is $48. Let's substitute this information into the equation.
y= 44x+ 48
b If we want to set up a website and maintain it for 6 months, we can find the total cost by substituting 6 for x into the equation that we wrote in Part A. Let's do it!
c In this part, we have new information about a different company. This company charges $62 per month to maintain a website, but there is no initial fee. Let's write an equation of the total cost for this company.
y= 62xIf we have $620, let's determine at which company we can set up and maintain a website for the greatest amount of time. We will start with the first company.
We can see that 10 months is the maximum time for us to maintain a website at the second company if we have $620. Therefore, the first company would be a better option for us.
