Calling Long Distance

     A popular commercial for long-distance telephone calls says their rate is just "7¢ per minute", thus being better than those other companies that charge 10¢ and 25¢.

     Recently there comes another commercial that says "our rate is just 3¢ per minute and 39¢ to connect". Sounds great, doesn't it? But is it?

     If you only needed to make a short call to someone, the first plan would actually be cheaper.

     Let's compare these two plans algebraically.

  1. What is the break-even point, i.e. the length of time for which the cost is the same for both plans? What would the amount be?

  2. How long would a customer have to talk so that she would be charged twice as much money for the first plan, as compared to the second one?

     Extra: When would the first plan be three times as high as the second?

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