Function questions

Question

Billy’s grandfather gave him $1,200 when he turned 16 towards buying a new car that he wanted,

which cost $25,000. He saved $500 a month from his job as a computer programmer. Write a

function you would use to calculate how long would it take before he could buy the car and provide

the answer? Round you answer to the nearest 10th.

Answer 1

Hello, Jeff,

Let x be the months Billy earns $500. He is 16 and starts with $1200. To find the time required to reach $25000, make the following equation:

$25,000 = x($500) + $1200

At x = 0, Billy has the $1200 his grandfather gave him, and as x increases by one for every month he works, he adds $500 to his total. Solve for x to determine the number of months it takes to reach $25,000. I get 47.6 months. Divide that by 12 (months/year) to get 3.97 years. Round to 4 years and Billy will be 20 years old. Not bad - and that doesn't include interest or gains from his Tesla stock.

Bob