Under his cell phone plan, Gavin pays a flat cost of $62.50 per month and gigabyte. He wants to keep his bill at $86.50 per month. How many gigaby can he use while staying within his budget?
The correct answer and explanation is:
To find out how many gigabytes Gavin can use while staying within his budget, we need to set up a simple equation.
The flat cost per gigabyte is $62.50, and Gavin’s total bill cannot exceed $86.50 per month. This means the cost of the gigabytes he uses, plus the $62.50 base charge, must add up to no more than $86.50.
Let the number of gigabytes he can use be represented by xx. Then, the cost for xx gigabytes would be 62.50×x62.50 \times x. Since his total bill is $86.50, we can set up the following equation: 62.50x=86.5062.50x = 86.50
To find xx, we solve for it by dividing both sides of the equation by 62.50: x=86.5062.50=1.384x = \frac{86.50}{62.50} = 1.384
Since Gavin can’t use a fraction of a gigabyte under this plan, we round down to the nearest whole number. Therefore, Gavin can use 1 gigabyte to stay within his $86.50 budget.
Explanation:
The equation shows the relationship between the cost per gigabyte and the total bill. By dividing the total allowable bill by the cost per gigabyte, we determine how many full gigabytes can be used. Because the cost per gigabyte is fixed, it’s crucial to round down any decimal values when considering actual usage to avoid exceeding the budget. Thus, while the exact calculation suggests he could use 1.384 gigabytes, he is restricted to 1 gigabyte under the current billing structure.