Colin charges a flat fee for babysitting plus an hourly fee. His total cost is represented on the graph. How can you represent this situation algebraically?

Answer 1

Let the flat fee for babysitting be represented by the variable $f$ and the hourly fee be represented by the variable $h$. Let x represent the number of hours babysat.

The total cost for babysitting ($C$) can be represented algebraically as:
$C = f + hx$

where $f$ is the flat fee and $hx$ is the hourly fee for x hours of babysitting.

Colin's total cost is represented on the graph as a line with a y-intercept at the flat fee ($f$) and a slope equal to the hourly fee ($h).