Question 1035126
I know the answer is that Mr. Fell parked for 4 hours, just not sure how to set up the equation/pattern rule.

It costs $1.50 for the first hour and $0.50 for each additional half hour to park in a parking lot.  Mr. Fell paid $4.50.  Write an equation to represent the situation.

Would it be:

n + 1.5 = 4.50
  -1.5           -1.5
n = 3

Thanks in advance!
<pre>With P(x) being amount paid, and x: total hours parked, the piece-wise function is: {{{highlight_green(P(x)=system(matrix(2,3,"$1.50", for, 0 < x <= 1, x + .5,  for, x > 1)))}}}

Since an amount that was > $1.50 ($4.50) was paid, then we use the equation: {{{P(x) = x + .5}}}
4.5 = x + .5 -------- Substituting $4.50 for P(x)
4.5 - .5 = x
x, or time he parked: {{{highlight_green(matrix(1,2, 4, hours))}}}