Question

Imagine the bike shop sells bike rentals for a local bike tour. The tour costs $50 for equipment plus $7.50 per hour. Explain how you could find the total cost of a 5-hour bike tour.

explain how to solve

Answer 1

To find the total cost of a 5-hour bike tour, you can follow these steps:

1. **Identify the components of the cost**: The total cost consists of two parts:
- A flat fee for equipment rental, which is $50.
- A variable fee based on the duration of the tour, which is $7.50 per hour.

2. **Calculate the variable cost**: Since the tour lasts for 5 hours and costs $7.50 per hour, you can calculate this part of the cost as follows:
- Multiply the hourly rate by the number of hours: \( 7.50 \, \text{dollars/hour} \times 5 \, \text{hours} = 37.50 \, \text{dollars} \).

3. **Add the fixed cost to the variable cost**: Now, you can sum up the two components (the fixed equipment rental fee and the total variable cost) to get the total cost:
- Total cost = Cost of equipment + Variable cost for hours
- Total cost = \( 50 \, \text{dollars} + 37.50 \, \text{dollars} \)

4. **Calculate the total**:
- \( 50 + 37.50 = 87.50 \, \text{dollars} \)

Therefore, the total cost of a 5-hour bike tour would be $87.50.