Question

An office equipment company rents copier a monthly fee plus a fee per copy. Julie Simms rents a copier and was charged $175 for making 1500 copies in March and $223 for making 2300 copies in April. What is the fee per copy?

Answer 1

The cost would be `$0.0625` or `6.25` cents per copy

Explanation:

Let `x` be the cost per copy and `y` be the monthly fee.

In March the cost was `$175` which equals the fee `(y)` plus the cost per copy `(x)` times the number of copies `(1500)`. The two equations would be:

`$175 = 1500x + y" "` and `" "$225 = 2300x + y`

Solve each for `y`. You would get

`y = $175 - 1500x" "` and `" " y = $225 - 2300x`

Since `y = y`, you can let the equations equal each other

`$175 - 1500x = $225 - 2300x`

Add `2300x` to each side and you get

`$175 + 800x = $225`

Subtract `$175` from bot sides gives you

`800x = $50`

Divide both sides by `800` and the cost per copy

`x = $0.0625`

Putting this back into the equation, `y = $81.25` per month.