Norm's electric bill for December 2013 was $149.32.

Question

Norm's electric bill for December 2013 was $149.32. In 2014 the electric bill was $194.31. Next year Norm expects the bill to be the 2013 amount plus $25.00 more than the difference between 2013 and 2014. What is the new bill expected to be?

Answer 1

Any time I see a word problem I like to write the pertinent information with fewer words. Let's do it for this one.

Electric bill 2013 = $149.32

Electric bill 2014 = $194.31

Electric bill next year = Electric bill 2013 + $25.00 + (Electric bill 2014 - Electric bill 2013)

Asks for: Electric bill next year

The question gives us an equation to solve for the answer! We just need to plug things in.

Electric bill next year = 149.32 + 25 + (194.31 - 149.32)

= 149.32 + 25 + (44.99)

= 219.31

So the new bill is expected to be $219.31