Problema Solution
A cable company is asked to provide service to a customer whose house is located 2 miles up a dirt road perpendicular to the road along which the cable is buried. The nearest connection box for the cable is located 5 miles down the road. Installation cost is 2.1 cents per foot along the east-west road and 3.5 cents per foot off the road. Find a function in terms of x that represents the cost in dollars to install the cable.
Answer provided by our tutors
Yep, the problem statement is ambiguous... the description simply states that 5 miles away is the road from where a perpendicular line covers 2 miles to the customer's house. One mile is 5280 feet.
That's simply calculating 0.021*5*5280 + 0.035*2.*5280 to simplify and obtain the cost over 5 miles down the road and 2 miles to the house:
0.021*5*5280+0.035*2*5280
924
So that cost would be $924... there is no way to utilize a variable 'x' unless a diagonal sign takes both routes in mind:
x^2=(0.021*5*5280)^2 + (0.035*2*5280)^2
x=666.3
So that cost would be approximately $666.