A basic car rental charges a daily rate of $29 a day plus $.20 a mile. Suppose that you rent a car for a day and your bill ( before taxes ) is $79. How many miles did you the car.
29 + 0.2x = 79
0.2x = 50
x = 50/0.2
x = 250
To calculate the number of miles you drove the car, we need to subtract the fixed daily rate from the total bill and then divide the remainder by the mileage rate.
Let's break down the problem step by step:
1. Subtract the fixed daily rate from the total bill:
Bill (before taxes) - Daily rate = Mileage cost
$79 - $29 = $50
2. Divide the mileage cost by the mileage rate to find the number of miles driven:
Mileage cost ÷ Mileage rate = Number of miles driven
$50 ÷ $0.20 = 250 miles
Therefore, you drove the car for 250 miles.