Statistics. After reading an article on the front page of The New York Times titled "You Have to Be Good at Algebra to Figure Out the Best Deal for Long Distance," Rafaella De La Cruz decided to apply her skills in algebra to try to decide between two competing long-distance companies. It was difficult at first to get the companies to explain their charge policies. They both kept repeating that they were 25% cheaper than their competition. Finally, Rafaella found someone who explained that the charge depended on when she called, where she called, how long she talked, and how often she called. "Too many variables!" she exclaimed. So she decided to ask one company what they charged as a base amount, just for using the service.

Company A said that they charged $5 for the privilege of using their long distance service, whether or not she made any phone calls, and that because of this fee they were able to allow her to call anywhere in the United States after 6 P.M. for only $0.15 a minute. Complete this table of charges based on this company's plan: Use this table to make a graph of the monthly charges from Company A based on the number of minutes of long distance.

Rafaella wanted to compare this offer to Company B, which she was currently using. She looked at her phone bill and saw that one month she had been charged $7.50 for 30 minutes and another month she had been charged $11.25 for 45 minutes of long-distance calling. These calls were made after 6 P.M. to her relatives in Indiana and Arizona. Draw a graph on the same set of axes you made for Company A's figures. Use your graph and what you know about linear inequalities to advise Rafaella about which company is best.