Question

Context: When your parents were younger, having a mobile phone was a big deal—if they were lucky enough to have one! But owning the phone was only half the challenge. Choosing the right phone plan was the other tricky part.

Back then, neither texting nor talking was unlimited. In fact, carriers charged for both!

Here’s an example: VoiceStream offered a plan for $40 per month, plus an additional charge of 5 cents for every text sent.

Question you need to answer like a 8th grader: If you send 100 text messages in a month, what would your total monthly cost be? Explain how you got your answer.



If you send 100 text messages in a month, what would your total monthly cost be? Explain how you got your answer.

Answer 1

please reword it like a 8th grader

Answer 2

Answer this like a 7th grader: If y represents the total monthly cost and x represents the number of texts sent, what equation in slope-intercept form represents this plan?

Answer 3

To find out the total monthly cost if you send 100 text messages, we need to add the monthly plan cost to the total cost of the text messages.

1. **Monthly Plan Cost**: VoiceStream's plan costs $40 per month.
2. **Cost of Text Messages**: They charge 5 cents for each text message sent.

Now, let's calculate the cost for sending 100 text messages:

- Cost of 1 text message = 5 cents.
- Cost of 100 text messages = 100 * 5 cents.

Since 5 cents is the same as $0.05, we can convert it:

- 100 * $0.05 = $5.00.

Now we add the cost of the plan to the cost of the text messages:

- Monthly Plan Cost: $40.00
- Cost of Text Messages: $5.00

Total monthly cost = $40.00 + $5.00 = **$45.00**.

So, if you send 100 text messages in a month, your total monthly cost would be **$45.00**.

Answer 4

To figure out how much it would cost if you send 100 text messages in a month, we need to add the monthly fee for the phone plan to the cost of the text messages.

1. **Monthly Plan Fee**: The plan costs $40 each month.
2. **Cost of Text Messages**: They charge 5 cents for every text you send.

Now, let’s calculate how much it costs to send 100 text messages:

- The cost for 1 text message is 5 cents.
- So, to find the cost for 100 texts, we do: 100 times 5 cents.

Since 5 cents is the same as $0.05, we can calculate it like this:

- 100 times $0.05 equals $5.00.

Now, we add the phone plan cost to the text message cost:

- Monthly Plan Cost: $40.00
- Text Message Cost: $5.00

So, the total cost for the month would be $40.00 plus $5.00, which is **$45.00**.

Therefore, if you send 100 text messages in a month, your total monthly cost would be **$45.00**.

Answer 5

To write the equation for the total monthly cost in slope-intercept form (which is usually written as \( y = mx + b \)), we need to identify what each part means:

- **\( y \)** is the total monthly cost.
- **\( x \)** is the number of texts sent.
- The **slope \( m \)** is the cost of sending each text. Since each text costs 5 cents, we need to convert that to dollars. So, 5 cents is the same as $0.05. This means \( m = 0.05 \).
- The **y-intercept \( b \)** is the monthly fee for the plan, which is $40. So, \( b = 40 \).

Putting it all together, the equation in slope-intercept form is:

\[ y = 0.05x + 40 \]

This means that for every text you send (every \( x \)), you will add $0.05 to your total cost, and you start with a $40 fee each month.