Digital PSAT Math Practice Question 188: Answer and Explanation

Question: 188

A dry cleaner has a computer program to determine the price it will charge an individual customer to clean a bag full of shirts (S) and pairs of pants (P). The total cost in dollars (C) is given by the following expression:

C = 10S + 6P + 5

What does the constant 5 most likely represent in the above expression?

• A. A set fee the cleaner assesses to do any amount of cleaning
• B. The cost to clean a shirt
• C. The cost to clean a pair of pants
• D. The total minimum cost to clean either one shirt or pair of pants

Correct Answer: A

Explanation:

(A) No matter how many shirts or pants are cleaned, the cleaner has a $5 fee. The only logical explanation out of the given choices is that this is some kind of set fee. The cost to clean a shirt is 10, since it multiplies the shirt variable. The cost to clean a pair of pants is 6, since it multiplies the pants variable. And the total minimum cost to clean either one shirt or one pair of pants is 11, since it would be: