Question

The cheapest available ticket for Super Bowl Ll on the secondary market costs

$2400. Suppose Joel earns the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, 20% of
which is deducted for taxes, and he works from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. How
many days must Joel work to pay for a single ticket? Express your answer to the
nearest whole number.

Answer 1

He must work 52 days to pay for a single ticket.

Explanation:

This question can be solved using proportions.

Per hour:

Joel earns $7.25 per hour, 20% of which is deducted for taxes. So without taxes, in each hour, he earns 100%-20% of 80% of this, so 0.8*7.25 = $5.8.

Per day:

He works 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, so 8 hours a day.

For each hour, he earns $5.8.

So in a day, he makes 8*5.8 = $46.4

How many days he must work:

The ticket costs $2400.

He makes $46.4 a day.

So, to buy a ticket, he needs to work:

2400/46.4 = 51.7 days

Rounding up

He must work 52 days to pay for a single ticket.