SOLUTION: Your department sends its copying to a photocopy center, which bills your department $0.08 per page. You are considering buying a departmental copier for $2500. With your copier,th

Algebra ->  Coordinate Systems and Linear Equations  -> Linear Equations and Systems Word Problems -> SOLUTION: Your department sends its copying to a photocopy center, which bills your department $0.08 per page. You are considering buying a departmental copier for $2500. With your copier,th      Log On


   

Question 892578: Your department sends its copying to a photocopy center, which bills your department $0.08 per page. You are considering buying a departmental copier for $2500. With your copier,the cost per page would be $0.025. The expected life of the copier is 4 years. How many copies must you make in the four year period to justify purchasing the copier?
Answer by LinnW(1048) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Our cost for copies over 4 years for the two scenarios are
0.08*x at the departmental rate
2500 + 0.025*x for a purchased copier
where x is the number of copies.
We want to determine when the two costs are the same
0.08x = 2500 + 0.025x
add -0.025 to each side
0.08x - 0.025x = 2500
0.055x = 2500
divide each side by 0.055
x = 2500/0.055
x = 45454.54
So we need to make 45455 copies for purchasing a copier to be a good idea.