Question

under his cell phone plan, ian pays a flat cost of $44.50 per month and $5 per gigabyte. he wants to keep his bill at $61 per month. which equation could be used to determine x, the number of gigabytes of data ian can use while staying within his budget? answer x = (61 - 44.5)/5; 5x = 44.5 - 61; 61 = 5 + 44.5x; x = (61 - 5)/44.5

Explanation:

Step1: Identify cost - components

The flat - cost is $44.50 and the cost per gigabyte is $5. Let $x$ be the number of gigabytes. The total cost is the sum of the flat cost and the cost for the data used.
The total cost $C = 44.50+5x$.

Step2: Set up the equation based on the budget

Ian wants his bill $C$ to be $61$. So, we set up the equation $44.50 + 5x=61$.
We can also solve this equation for $x$:
First, subtract 44.50 from both sides: $5x=61 - 44.50$. Then, $x=\frac{61 - 44.50}{5}$.

Answer:

$x=\frac{61 - 44.5}{5}$