Imagine the bike shop sells bike rentals for a local bike tour. The tour costs $50 for equipment plus $7.50 per hour. Explain how you could find the total cost of a 5-hour bike tour.

1 answer

To find the total cost of a 5-hour bike tour, you can break it down into two parts: the fixed equipment cost and the variable cost based on the number of hours.

  1. Fixed Equipment Cost: This is the initial cost of renting the equipment, which is $50.

  2. Variable Cost per Hour: The cost for each hour of the tour is $7.50. Since the tour lasts for 5 hours, you would multiply the cost per hour by the number of hours:

    \[ \text{Variable Cost} = \text{Cost per hour} \times \text{Number of hours} = 7.50 \times 5 \]

    Performing the calculation:

    \[ 7.50 \times 5 = 37.50 \]

  3. Total Cost: Finally, you add the fixed equipment cost to the variable cost calculated above:

    \[ \text{Total Cost} = \text{Fixed Equipment Cost} + \text{Variable Cost} = 50 + 37.50 \]

    Performing this addition:

    \[ 50 + 37.50 = 87.50 \]

So, the total cost of a 5-hour bike tour would be $87.50.