Kaj signed up for a streaming music service where there’s a fixed cost for monthly
membership and a cost per song downloaded. Her total cost per month is given by the
equation , where represents the number of songs she downloads and
represents the total cost, in dollars and cents. What could the number 1.5 represent in the
equation?

The number 1.5 in the equation represents the cost per song downloaded. For every song Kaj chooses to download, she incurs an additional charge of $1.50 on top of her fixed monthly fee of $6.99. This means if she downloads multiple songs, her total cost increases with each additional song, creating a clear link between her listening habits and her monthly expenses.

Understanding such cost structures can be especially useful in budgeting. Kaj can figure out how many songs she can afford to download based on her monthly budget. If she wants to keep her total expenditure under a certain amount, she can rearrange the equation to determine how many songs she can download without exceeding that limit, ensuring she gets her groove on without breaking the bank!