The cost of dinner for a group of tourist is partly constant and partly varies as the number of tourists present. It costs $740.00 when 20 tourists were pre...

Answer Details

Let's call the constant cost of dinner "C". When there were 20 tourists, the total cost was $740.00, so we can write an equation to find the value of C:

C + 20 * (variable cost per tourist) = $740.00

When the number of tourists increased by 10, the total cost became $960.00, so we can write another equation using this information:

C + 30 * (variable cost per tourist) = $960.00

Now we have two equations with two unknowns (C and the variable cost per tourist), so we can use substitution to solve for one of the unknowns.

Subtracting the first equation from the second equation, we get:

10 * (variable cost per tourist) = $960.00 - $740.00 = $220.00

So, the variable cost per tourist is $22.00. Now we can use this value to find the constant cost of dinner, C:

C + 20 * $22.00 = $740.00

C = $740.00 - 20 * $22.00 = $140.00

Finally, we can use the constant cost of dinner and the variable cost per tourist to find the total cost of dinner when there were 15 tourists:

Total cost = C + 15 * (variable cost per tourist) = $140.00 + 15 * $22.00 = $340.00

So, the cost of dinner for 15 tourists was $340.00.