You and your three friends are going to the State Fair. It costs $3 for each ride and $5 per person to get into the fair. Which algebraic expression represents the TOTAL amount of money it will cost for four friends to get into the fair and ride "x" amount of rides?

4x + 20
4(3x + 5)
5x + 3
4(x + 5)

1 answer

To determine the total cost for four friends to get into the fair and ride "x" amount of rides, we need to consider two components:

  1. The cost for admission: Each person pays $5, and there are 4 friends, so the total admission cost is \(4 \times 5 = 20\).

  2. The cost for rides: Each ride costs $3, and if they ride "x" amount of rides, the total cost for rides will be \(3x\).

Now, we can combine these two costs to form the total cost:

\[ \text{Total cost} = \text{Admission cost} + \text{Rides cost} = 20 + 3x \]

To express this in terms of an algebraic expression, we can rewrite it as:

\[ 3x + 20 \]

This expression is equivalent to \(4(3x + 5)\) when simplified, but the most straightforward expression for the total cost is:

\[ 3x + 20 \]

Among the choices provided, however, we can rewrite it to fit the multiple-choice format. Since none of the options directly list \(3x + 20\), the closest and correctly represented form in terms of the total cost of admission and rides is:

\[ 4(x + 5) \]

Thus, the correct answer among the options provided is:

4(x + 5)