The cost of a long-distance telephone call is $.36 for the first minute and $.21 for each additional minute or portion thereof. Write an inequality representing the number of minutes a person could talk without exceeding $3.

cost= .36 + .21(m-1)

then put the cost less than or equal to 3.

.36 + .21(m-1) ≤ 3

The cost of a long-distance telephone call is calculated as follows: $.36 for the first minute, and then an additional $.21 for each additional minute or portion thereof.

Let's break down the formula for the cost of the call:

The cost for the first minute is $.36.

For each additional minute or portion thereof, we need to multiply the number of additional minutes (m-1) by $.21. This is because the cost for the first minute is already accounted for in the initial $.36.

So, the formula for the total cost of the call is:

cost = $.36 + $.21(m-1)

To represent the number of minutes a person could talk without exceeding $3, we need to write an inequality.

The inequality is:

$.36 + $.21(m-1) ≤ $3

This inequality states that the cost of the call, given by $.36 + $.21(m-1), should be less than or equal to $3.