Mercury High School is requiring students to purchase parking permits this year in order to use campus parking lots. It costs the school a one-time fee of $500 to have the logo designed. It also costs $2 per permit to print and cut out each one. They expect the average cost of each permit to be $6.
a. Write a rational equation that describes the situation above.
b. How many parking permits does Mercury High School need to sell in order for the average cost of a student's parking permit to be $6? Solve your equation from part (a) to answer the question. Justify your solution as it relates to the context.
a) Let the number of permits printed be "x."
\(500 + 2x = 6x\)
b) We will solve the equation from part a).
Subtract 2x from both sides:
\(500 = 4x\)
Divide both sides by 4:
\(125 = x\)
Mercury High School needs to sell 125 parking permits for the average cost of a permit to be $6.