Question

Under her cell phone plan, Shaniece pays a flat cost of $48 per month and $3 per gigabyte. She wants to keep her bill at $61.20 per month. Which equation could be used to determine xx, the number of gigabytes of data Shaniece can use while staying within her budget?

Answer 1

To determine the number of gigabytes of data \( x \) that Shaniece can use while staying within her budget of $61.20, we can set up an equation based on her cell phone plan costs.

Shaniece's total monthly bill consists of a flat cost plus the cost for the data she uses:

- Flat cost: $48
- Cost per gigabyte: $3 per GB

Her total monthly bill can therefore be expressed as:

\[
\text{Total Bill} = \text{Flat Cost} + (\text{Cost per GB} \times \text{Number of GBs})
\]

Plugging in the values:

\[
61.20 = 48 + 3x
\]

Where \( x \) is the number of gigabytes of data she can use.

We can rearrange this equation to isolate \( x \) if needed, but the equation that can be used to determine the number of gigabytes \( x \) while staying within her budget is:

\[
61.20 = 48 + 3x
\]