Question

Joan works on commission for a furniture store. She gets a base pay of $85 a day plus 6 percent of the

value of any merchandise she sells that exceeds a total of $400. Joan wrote the expression 400+ 0.06(t -
85), where t represents her sales total in dollars, to compute the total amount of money that she will
make. For sales of $500 Joan calculated that she will make $424.90. Explain Joan's error by completing the
correct expression and how much she will make.

Answer 1

Correct expression: 85 + 0.06(t - 400)

Correct earnings: $91

Explanation:

The expression Joan wrote is incorrect because instead, $85, she put $400 as her base salary. The correct expression would be 85 + 0.06(t - 400), where 85 is her base pay in dollars, and t - 400 represents her sales in dollars exceeding $400.

If Joan's sales were $500, she would not make $424.90, but

85 + 0.06(t - 400)

85 + 0.06(500 - 400)

85 + 0.06(100)

85 + 6

$91

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Andy