Algebra Word Problem

Question

Bill bought a used car. After he’d owned the car for 10 weeks, he noticed that the car’s odometer showed that it had gone a total of 43,852 miles. (Of course, that included the mileage on the car when Bill bought it.) It’s now 30 weeks since Bill bought the car, and the odometer shows 49,651 miles. Assume that Bill drives the same amount each week.

 

• Develop a formula that will estimate the odometer reading after Bill has owned the car for N weeks. Explain how you got your answer.

How many miles did the car go when he bought it explain your reasoning

 

if i graphed my answer what would the slope be and explain

Answer 1

So, in 20 weeks, he drove (49651 - 43852)/(30 - 10) = 290 miles/week.

 

Now, if he drives 290 miles/per week, then in the first 10 weeks, he drove 2900 miles.

 

43,852 - 2900 = 40,952 miles on the odometer when he bought the car.

 

Let T = the odometer reading

 

T(N) = 290N + 40,952