Question

Parking in a student lot costs $2 for the first half hour and $1.75 for each hour thereafter. A partial hour is charged the same as a full hour. What is the longest time that a student can park in this lost for $7?

Answer 1

Showing work

Answer 2

Let's try to set up an equation:

We will consider the first half hour to be a fixed fee, and then we will deal with it at the end.

2 + 1.75x = 7
solve for x

x = 2.85
This means that we can stay 2.85 hours after the initial half hour.
Let's add that half hour back in to the total time.

2.85 + 0.5 = 3.35 hours

Answer 3

wait, actually since a partial hour is the same as a full hour, it should only be 2.5 hours

Answer 4

so it would be 2.85+2.5=5.35, right?

Answer 5

an easier way to think of this problem is just keep adding for each additional hour:

0.5 hours --> $2
1.5 hrs --> $3.75
2.5 hrs --> $5.50
3.5 hrs --> $7.25

and since you can only spend $7, the maximum time is 2.5 hours

Answer 6

Oh, Okay I see it now. Thank you.

Answer 7

sorry, my first post was wrong, i didn't read the whole question