Pre Algebra Word Problem

Question

Liam has budgeted $60 a month for his cell phone. For his service, he pays a monthly fee of $39.95, plus taxes of 10 cents for each text message he sends or receives. How many text messages can he send or receive and not exceed his budget?

Answer 1

If Liam starts with $60.00 and deduct $39.95, he has $21.05 remaining. If each text message costs $0.10, we would divide the remaining $21.05 by the cost of a single text message (divide by $0.10) and arrive at an answer (in this case, the quotient) of 200.5. Liam cannot send half of a text message, so he can only send 200 text messages without exceeding his budget.

Check your work:

200 text messages at ten cents ($0.10) each equals $20.00; add $39.95 for the monthly service fee and we have $59.95. This is less than the allotted budget of $60.00 per month, and we know each text message costs $0.10, so Liam cannot send any additional messages. without exceeding his monthly budget.