Math help
So I'm retaking an exam for this job I want tomorrow and I failed on one part. It was something like this:
The total cost of utilities for an apartment complex is 790$. There are 28 tenants, varying from 1-4 people per home. The more people per home, the more they have to pay.
1 tenant - 1x
2 - 1.2x
3 - 1.6x
4 - 1.9X
And .3 more for each additional tenant. The variable is the amount a home has to pay based on the number of tenants. The total variable amount is 18.3.
How would I solve this? Would you just take the cost and divide it by the total multiplier?
November 30, 2015
6 Comments • Newest first
I read this as 'meth' help. I am unqualified.
@2005chuy: Could you give me the entire question? I feel like these fragments are making it difficult to communicate what exactly needs to be solved here. I can compute the approximate number of individuals in the entire complex, the average person per home, and the rates associated with those averages, though the (1.n)x format is making me think that something needs to be solved for x.
For instance, the home#2 question seems as if it's asking 1.6x=y (rent denoted as y), though no previous scenario has been given in order for x to be computed. The only other way to receive something like that would be to adhere to your original suggestion and divide the utilities cost (790) by the total multiplier (18.3) to receive something which could possibly be used as x, though due to limited information, I'm a tad skeptical.
@sezbeth: sorry, ley me claridy. 18.3 is the total multiplier added up with all the tenants. For example,
Home 1 - 2 tenants - 1.2x
H2 - 3t - 1.6x
H3 - 1t - 1x
Etc
Etc
Etc
Etc
Total - 28t, 18.3
@2005chuy: Alright, easy enough.
The question states that the variable in each rate is 18.3,which I'm assuming translates to $18.30.
When it mentions the "variable" in each of the rates, it is referring to the "x" in e.g. 1.6x (for a rate of three). Ergo, x=18.3.
So, when the you're presented with the question: "home #2 has 3 tenants (1.6x), how much would home 2 pay?", you simply compute 1.6(18.3) or 1.6 x 18.3 and receive 29.28, or $29.28.
edit: corrected for arithmetic
The goal is to find out how much each home would pay based only on the multiplier. Part of the question was, "home #2 has 3 tenants (1.6x), how much would home 2 pay".
Do you know what you're trying to find out?
There's a number things one can deduct from this information, however the question does not specify which one is needed in particular in order to consider the problem "solved".
It's given you rates per tenant, overall utility costs (likely going to be the value for whatever formula is needed), and possible numbers of people per home, which may or may not introduce combinatorics, and an already fixed variable amount of 18.3.