5. The total cost for bowling includes the fee for shoe rental plus a fee per game. The cost of each game increases the price by \( \$ 4 \). After 3 games, the total cost with shoe rental is \( \$ 14 \). a. Write an equation to represent the total cost \( y \) to rent shoes and bowl \( x \) games. b. How much is shoe rental? How is this represented in the equation?

To represent the total cost of bowling, you can set up the equation \( y = s + 4x \), where \( s \) is the shoe rental fee and \( x \) is the number of games played. Based on the given information, after 3 games, it costs \( \$ 14 \). Plugging in the values gives \( 14 = s + 4(3) \), which simplifies to \( 14 = s + 12 \). Therefore, solving for \( s \) reveals that \( s = 2 \). So, the shoe rental is \( \$ 2 \), and this fee is represented by the constant \( s \) in the equation \( y = s + 4x \). Every time you play a game, the cost increases by \( \$ 4 \), but the initial shoe rental is what you'll need to pay first before enjoying the fun of bowling!