Problem 54 - College Algebra Essentials

Question

The rate for a particular international person-to-person telephone call is \(\$ 0.43\) for the first minute, \(\$ 0.32\) for each additional minute, and a \(\$ 2.10\) service charge. If the cost of a call is \(\$ 5.73,\) how long did the person talk?

Step-by-Step Solution

Answer

The total duration of the call was 11 minutes.

Step 1: Subtract the initial costs

Begin exercising by subtracting the cost of the first minute and the service charge from the total cost. This is done using the formula Total cost - Service charge - Cost of first minute = \(5.73 - 2.10 - 0.43 = 3.20\) dollars.

Step 2: Calculate the additional minutes

To find out how many additional minutes the call lasted, divide the remaining amount by the cost of each additional minute. Follow the formula Remaining cost / Cost of each additional minute = \(3.20 / 0.32 = 10\) minutes.

Step 3: Determine the total duration of the call

Sum up the minute calculated in Step 1 and the 10 minutes calculated in Step 2. This gives the total talk time. So, Total duration of call = First minute + Additional minutes = \(1 + 10 = 11\) minutes.