A jet ski company charges a flat fee of $26.00 plus $3.25 per hour to rent a jet ski. Another company charges a fee of $24.00 plus $3.50 per hour to rent the same jet ski..

Question

Using a graphing calculator, find the number of hours for which the costs are the same. Round your answer to the nearest whole hour.

Answer 1

Let x be the number of hours.
The cost for the first company is 26 + 3.25x.
The cost for the second company is 24 + 3.50x.
We want to find the value of x when the costs are equal:
26 + 3.25x = 24 + 3.50x
0.25x = 2
x = 2 / 0.25
x = 8
The costs are the same for 8 hours. Answer: \boxed{8}.