High School

A cab company offers a special discount on fares to senior citizens. The following expression models the average amount a cab driver of the company collects on a particular day, where [tex]$x$[/tex] represents the number of senior citizens who travel by the company's cabs:

[tex]\frac{180x}{x+4} + 250[/tex]

What does the constant term in the above expression represent?

A. The constant 250 represents the maximum amount a cab driver collects on a particular day when [tex]$x$[/tex] senior citizens travel by the company's cabs.

B. The constant 250 represents the number of senior citizens who travel by the company's cabs.

C. The constant 250 represents the average amount a cab driver collects on a particular day when no senior citizens travel by the company's cabs.

D. The constant 250 represents the average amount the company pays a cab driver on a particular day.

Answer :

To understand what the constant term in the expression represents, let's analyze the expression:

[tex]\[
\frac{180x}{x+4} + 250
\][/tex]

Here, [tex]\( x \)[/tex] is the number of senior citizens traveling by the company's cabs. We need to determine what the constant term [tex]\( 250 \)[/tex] indicates.

To do this, let's consider the scenario when no senior citizens are traveling, which means [tex]\( x = 0 \)[/tex]:

1. Substitute [tex]\( x = 0 \)[/tex] into the expression:

[tex]\[
\frac{180 \times 0}{0 + 4} + 250 = \frac{0}{4} + 250 = 0 + 250
\][/tex]

This simplifies to 250.

2. When [tex]\( x = 0 \)[/tex], the term [tex]\(\frac{180x}{x+4}\)[/tex] becomes zero because it involves multiplying by zero.

3. Therefore, the expression simplifies entirely to the constant term 250.

This indicates that when no senior citizens are traveling (i.e., [tex]\( x = 0 \)[/tex]), the average amount a cab driver collects is represented by the constant term.

So, the correct interpretation for the constant term, 250, in the context of the expression is:

C. The constant 250 represents the average amount a cab driver collects on a particular day when no senior citizens travel by the company's cabs.