Find a function rule for each plan. Evaluate it in the number of months that the plan lasts to find the total cost.
Plan A
We can choose between the three different season-pass options shown in table below. We are asked to find the least expensive option from there.
Plan A
Plan B
Plan C
One payment of 500.
$80 down payment and 6 montly payments of $75.
$60 down payment and 11 montly payments of $45.
In order to compare them, we will find the total cost for each option. We know that Plan A is a single payment of $500. Then, we can move to Plan B. It consists of an initial payment of $80 plus 6 monthly payments of $75. We can write this information as a function rule using m as the number of months.
c c c c c c
The cost & is & $80 & and & $75 & per& month
f(m) & = & 80 & + & 75 & * & m
Therefore, the function rule for the cost is f(m) = 80 + 75m. To get the total cost we just need to evaluate it at the 6^(th) month.
The total cost for Plan B is $530. Proceeding similarly with Plan C, we can see that its function rule would be f(m)=60+45m. The diference is that Plan C lasts for 11 months. Therefore, we will evaluate at m=11 to find the total cost.
