For his long distance phone service, manuel pays a $2 monthly fee plus 12 cents per minute. last month, manuel's long distance bill was $14.36. for how many minutes was manuel billed?

Let the number of minutes be = x.

Cost per minute = 12 cents = 0.12

Phone Bill = Monthly fee + 0.12 * x

Substituting from the question

14.36 = 2 + 0.12x

2 + 0.12x = 14.36

0.12x = 14.36 - 2

0.12x = 12.36

x = 12.36/0.12

x = 103

Manuel was billed for 103 minutes.