Gina takes classes at both Westside Community College and Pinewood Community College. At Westside, class fees are $98

Question

per credit hour, and at Pinewood, class fees are $ 115
per credit hour. Gina is taking a combined total of
13 credit hours at the two schools.

Suppose that she is taking
credit hours at Westside. Write an expression for the combined total dollar amount she paid for her class fees.

Answer 1

Let \( x \) be the number of credit hours Gina takes at Westside Community College. Since she is taking a total of 13 credit hours, the number of credit hours she takes at Pinewood Community College would be \( 13 - x \).

At Westside, the cost per credit hour is $98, so the total fees for the classes taken at Westside would be:

\[ 98x \]

At Pinewood, the cost per credit hour is $115, so the total fees for the classes taken at Pinewood would be:

\[ 115(13 - x) \]

Now, we can combine both expressions to find the total amount paid for class fees:

\[ \text{Total Fees} = 98x + 115(13 - x) \]

Let's simplify this expression:

\[ = 98x + 115 \times 13 - 115x \] \[ = 98x + 1495 - 115x \] \[ = (98 - 115)x + 1495 \] \[ = -17x + 1495 \]

Thus, the expression for the combined total dollar amount Gina paid for her class fees is:

\[ 1495 - 17x \]