Bill's Plumbing Service charges $75 to schedule a repair visit plus $30 per hour to make repairs. If the total bill was $177, how many hours did Bill work on the repair?

Question

Express your answer as a decimal number.
Answer

hours

Answer 1

To find out how many hours Bill worked on the repair, we can set up an equation based on the total bill.

The total bill consists of a fixed scheduling charge and a variable repair charge based on the number of hours worked.

1. The fixed scheduling charge is $75.
2. The variable cost is $30 per hour, multiplied by the number of hours worked, denoted as \( h \).

The equation for the total bill can be expressed as follows:

\[ \text{Total Bill} = \text{Scheduling Charge} + \text{Hourly Charge} \]

Plugging in the numbers:

\[ 177 = 75 + 30h \]

Next, we can solve for \( h \). First, subtract the scheduling charge from both sides:

\[ 177 - 75 = 30h \] \[ 102 = 30h \]

Now, divide both sides by 30 to find \( h \):

\[ h = \frac{102}{30} \]

Calculating that gives:

\[ h = 3.4 \]

Thus, Bill worked for \( 3.4 \) hours on the repair.

The final answer is:

\[ \boxed{3.4} \text{ hours} \]