Question

Josh takes classes at both Westside Community College and Pinewood Community College. At westside, class fees are $98 per credit hour, and at Pinewood, class fees are $115 per credit hour. Josh is taking a combined total of 13 credit hours at the two schools.Suppose that he is taking w credit hours at Westside. Write an expression for the combined total dollar amount he paid for his class fees.

Answer 1

We need to write the expression, in terms of w, for the combined total dollar amount he paid for his class fees.

He is taking w credit hours at Westside and the fee of each credit hour there is $98.

If we call p the number of credit hours he takes at Pinewood, where the fee of each credit hour is $115, we have:

$\begin{gathered} w+p=13 \\ \\ p=13-w \end{gathered}$

Then, the expression for the combined total dollar amount he paid for his class fees is:

$\begin{gathered} 98w+115p \\ \\ =98w+115(13-w) \\ \\ =98w+1495-115w \\ \\ =1495-17w \end{gathered}$

Answer:

$\begin{equation*} 1495-17w \end{equation*}$