To create a model for Vinh's total cost when he reserves movie tickets through his cell phone app, we need to define our variables and set up a linear equation.
Definition of Variables:
- Let \( x \) be the number of movie tickets Vinh purchases.
- Let \( y \) be the total cost of the purchase (including the convenience fee) in dollars.
Suppose:
- The price of each movie ticket is \( p \) dollars.
- The convenience fee for using the app is \( f \) dollars.
Modeling the Total Cost: The total cost \( y \) can be expressed in terms of the number of tickets \( x \) using the following linear equation:
\[ y = px + f \]
Where:
- \( px \) represents the total cost of \( x \) tickets at \( p \) dollars each.
- \( f \) represents the convenience fee.
Answering the Questions:
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How much is each movie ticket? The price of each movie ticket, denoted as \( p \), is the coefficient of \( x \) in the linear equation. If we know the values for the total cost and the convenience fee, we can determine the value of \( p \) by substituting known values into the equation to solve for \( p \).
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What is the interpretation of the y-intercept? In the equation \( y = px + f \), the y-intercept is represented by \( f \), which is the convenience fee. The y-intercept indicates the total cost Vinh incurs when he purchases zero tickets (i.e., \( x = 0 \)). In this case, the total cost is equal to the convenience fee itself, as he hasn’t bought any tickets yet. Thus, the y-intercept tells us what Vinh pays just to use the app, regardless of how many tickets he buys.
Summary Formula:
The linear equation that models the situation is:
\[ y = px + f \]
where \( p \) is the price of each movie ticket and \( f \) is the convenience fee.