Question

1. The county fair charges $1.50 per ticket for the rides. Jermaine bought 20 tickets for the rides and spent a total of $48.75 at the fair. Jermaine spent his money only on ride tickets and fair admission. The price of the fair admission is the same for everyone. Use y to represent the total cost and x to represent the number of ride tickets. (a) Define your variables. (b) Write a linear equation that can be used to determine the cost for anyone who only pays for ride tickets and fair admission.

Answer 1

We will use the amount Jermaine used to determine the admission price, since that is not given to us. The total amount he paid is equal to the sum of the price of the tickets and the admission price, a. We get the equation 48.75 = 1.50 * 20 + a (a = $18.75). Now, if a person comes to the fair and pays for only the rides and admission, we can form an equation in x, the number of ride tickets, and y, the total cost incurred by that person. y = 1.50x + 18.75. Here, y is the total cost, 1.50 is the price per ticket, x is the number of tickets and 18.75 is the admission cost.