10) You use a technical support company for your computer. The company bills you at a rate of $10 per month and $35 per hour for phone support.
a. Identify the fixed cost (the constant).
b. Identify the independent variable (x).
c. Identify the dependent variable (y).
d. Write an equation that describes the situation above.
e. If you were billed $97.50 for last month, how many hours of phone support did you need? Show all work.
a. The fixed cost in this situation is $10 per month, as it remains constant regardless of the number of hours of phone support used.
b. The independent variable (x) in this situation is the number of hours of phone support used.
c. The dependent variable (y) in this situation is the cost of the phone support.
d. The equation that describes the situation is: y = 10 + 35x, where y represents the cost of phone support and x represents the number of hours of phone support used.
e. To find out how many hours of phone support were needed if you were billed $97.50, we can use the equation:
97.50 = 10 + 35x
Solving for x:
87.50 = 35x
x = 87.50/35
x = 2.5
So, you would have needed 2.5 hours of phone support to be billed $97.50.