The cost to rent a bike at the beach is $6.75 per hour, plus an insurance fee of $15. Marcia spent $48.75 when renting a bike on a recent trip to the beach. For how many hours did Marcia rent the bike?

Answer 1

To find out how many hours Marcia rented the bike, we start by breaking down the total cost she incurred.

1. Identify the components of the total cost:

   • Insurance fee: $15
   • Cost per hour: $6.75

2. Let \( h \) represent the number of hours Marcia rented the bike. The total cost can be expressed as: \[ \text{Total Cost} = \text{Insurance Fee} + (\text{Cost per Hour} \times h) \] Therefore, we have: \[ 48.75 = 15 + 6.75h \]

3. Subtract the insurance fee from both sides to isolate the hourly cost: \[ 48.75 - 15 = 6.75h \] This simplifies to: \[ 33.75 = 6.75h \]

4. Now, solve for \( h \): \[ h = \frac{33.75}{6.75} \] To perform the division, we can simplify: \[ h = 5 \]

Thus, Marcia rented the bike for 5 hours.