Question

Renting a pony costs $200 plus $40 per hour. Write an equation to represent the total cost, c, of renting a pony for h hours.

I need help writing the equation.

Answer 1

`c=40h+200`
or
`c=$40h+$200`

Explanation:

Let `c` be the cost of the pony and `h` the hours rented. This is a linear equation, so it takes the form `y=mx+b`, or in this case, `c=hx+b`, where `b` is the initial cost and `x` the hourly rate.
The initial cost, `b`, is `$200`, so the `b` term will be `200`.
The hourly rate, `x`, is `$40`, so the `x` term will be `40`.
Therefore, the equation will be `c=40h+200` or using dollars,
`c=$40h+$200`

Answer 2

`200 + 40h = c`

Explanation:

We know that `c` is the total cost and `h` is the number of hours renting a pony.

We know that no matter how many hours you rent a pony, you will have to pay `$200`, so that is a constant.

We also know that it is `$40` for every hour, so that becomes `40h`.

Finally, we set this to the total cost, `c`, so the equation becomes this:

`200 + 40h = c`

Hope this helps!