Question

The expression 8x + 12y represents the sum of Harry's and Lloyd's total wages, where x represents the number of hours Harry worked and y represents the number of hours Lloyd worked. What is another way to write the expression, and what can you conclude from rewriting it in this way?

Answer 1

The rewritten is x + 1.5y.

It can be concluded that Lloyd earns $0.5 per hour more than Harry.

Explanation:

Given;

8x + 12y

The expression can be rewritten by dividing it through by 8 as follows:

(8 / 8)x + (12 / 8)y = x + 1.5y

Therefore, the expression can be rewritten as x + 1.5y.

Since x represents the number of hours Harry worked and y represents the number of hours Lloyd worked, the new expression implies that Harry earns $1 per hour while and Lloyd earns $1.5 per hour. Therefore, it can be concluded that Lloyd earns $0.5 per hour more than Harry.