SOLUTION: An electric utility company determines the monthly bill for a residential customer by adding an energy charge of 8.38 cents per kilowatt hour to its base charge of R4.95 per month.

Question 1091944: An electric utility company determines the monthly bill for a residential customer by adding an energy charge of 8.38 cents per kilowatt hour to its base charge of R4.95 per month. Write an equation for the monthly charge y in terms of x, the number of kilowatt-hours used.
[1] y = 8.38x + 4.95
[2] y = 0.0838x + 4.95
[3] y = 0.838x + 4.95
[4] y = 0.0838x + 495
[5] None of the above.
Found 2 solutions by ikleyn, greenestamps:
Answer by ikleyn(52781) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
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Hey, I don't know what the letter "R" means standing before your numbers and how does it is relate to cents.

Who invented this nonsense ?

Answer by greenestamps(13200) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!

Sorry about the sarcastic response you got from the other tutor....

Perhaps you were trying to type a dollar sign ($) and got a capital R instead; I type $'s frequently and it's easy if my fingers aren't behaving to end up with a capital R instead of a $.

Or maybe you live in a country where R is an abbreviation for the monetary unit (India Rupee? South Africa Rand?)....

In any case, it is clear that the intention is that it takes 100 cents to make an "R".

The question doesn't specify whether the equation is supposed to be in cents or "R"s. But only one of the answer choices works for either of those possibilities.

Answer choice [4] has "495" as the base rate, indicating that the equation is in cents, not "R"s. But if that were the right equation, the variable part of the equation would be in cents also, which would be "8.38x", not "0.0838x".

The other answer choices have the base rate as "4.95", indicating the equation is in "R"s. That means the 8.38 cents per kwh is 0.0838 R per kwh; so the correct answer choice is [2] y = 0.0838x + 4.95

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