Question

You are planning a party. You want to rent a snow cone machine, and the snow cone company charges a $25 set-up fee plus $15 per hour to rent the equipment. Which of these algebraic expressions represents the total cost for the machine for h hours? Explain how you know. 15h + 25 or 15(h + 25)

Answer 1

The answer would be 15h+25 because h isthe variable representing hours and they charge $15 for every hour. And also, the plus 25 is for the setup fee.

Answer 2

15h+25 just means that you have to pay 15 dollars every hour you use the snow cone machine, (the h represents hours), and you have to pay an extra charge of 25 dollars, so you would add that to the number you get with 15h. Lets say you used the machine for 3 hours. you would put the three in the position of the h. Then the equation would say 15(3)+25. so that would be 45+25 which is 70. Now with the next equation 15(h+25) its pretty much the same thing. So we can use the example we used before and we will get the same answer. So 15(3+25). You have to first multiply, (always multiply first), so 15(3) again which equals 45, plus 25 is still 70, so whatever number you use for each equation, you will always get the same answer. Hope this helps! :)