A telecommunications company is planning to expand its fiber-optic network to rural areas. It currently covers 1,000 square miles and serves 500,000 customers. The expansion will add another 2,000 square miles to the network, but the population density in these areas is only 100 people per square mile. Determine the total number of new customers that can be served by this expansion and calculate the cost per customer if the overall budget for the project is $50 million. Describe your approach and calculations.
To determine the total number of new customers that can be served by this expansion, we first need to find out how many people live in the 2,000 square miles area with a population density of 100 people per square mile.

Population = Population Density * Area
Population = 100 people/square mile * 2,000 square miles
Population = 200,000 people

So, there are 200,000 potential new customers in the expanded area.

Now, let's calculate the cost per customer if the overall budget for the project is $50 million.

Cost per Customer = Total Budget / Number of New Customers
Cost per Customer = $50,000,000 / 200,000
Cost per Customer = $250

Therefore, the cost per customer for this expansion would be $250.