Bunuel
A legal service bills p dollars for the first hour of service on a task and q dollars for each additional hour, where p > q. If the client requires a specific number of hours h of service, how does the amount billed to the client change if the work is broken up into n tasks rather than one task?
A. It increases by p - q dollars
B. It increases by h(p - q)dollars
C. It increases by (n - 1)(p - q) dollars
D. It decreases by (h - 1)(p - q) dollars
E. It decreases by n(p - q) dollars
We can let p = 5, q = 2, h = 7 and n = 3. Furthermore, let’s say that the 3 tasks last 2, 2, and 3 hours, respectively.
Therefore, as one task, the total amount billed would be:
5 + 2(7 - 1) = 5 + 12 = 17 dollars
However, as three tasks, the total amount billed would be:
[5 + 2(2 - 1)] + [5 + 2(2 - 1)] + [5 + 2(3 - 1)] = 7 + 7 + 9 = 23 dollars.
We see that the total amount billed would increase by 6 dollars (and we can reject choices D and E). Let’s look at the other 3 choices.
A. p - q = 5 - 2 = 3 → This is not 6.
B. h(p - q) = 7(5 - 2) = 21 → This is not 6.
C. (n - 1)(p - q) = (3 - 1)(5 - 2) = 6 → This is 6.
Answer: C