How do I answer this ?

Question

In New York City, the cost of riding in a taxi is $2.55 per passenger and an additional $1.22 per mile driven. A group of friends took a ride in the taxi to see the Statue of Liberty and paid a total of $20.

Create a model to represent this linear relationship. Let x represent number of passengers and y represent the number of miles driven

Answer 1

Cost = C = 2.55P + 1.55M, where P=x = number of passengers, M=y = miles

c=2.55x + 1.55y

40=2.55x + 1.55y

8 =0.51x +0.31y

0.3y = 8-0.51x

y = (8-0.51x)/.03 = 8/.03 - 0.51x/.03

0.51x = 8-0.31y

x = (8-0.31y)/0.51

Assuming x and y are integers, and limited capacity in the vehicle.

x=9 passengers and y= 11 miles for $40 total cost. More than 9 passengers

and it gets crowded, plus that limits miles to ever smaller distances. Likely

solution is 9 passengers going 11 miles.

40= 2.55(9) + 1.55(11) = 22.95+ 17.05 = 40.00

Less than 9 and the miles are fractions.