Question

Esmeralda worked two part-time jobs last week. The first job paid $14 an hour, and the second job paid $12 an hour. She worked a total of 19 hours last week and earned $246. How many hours did Esmeralda work at the first job?

Write an equation you can use to answer this question. Let x be the number of hours worked at the first job

Answer 1

12(19-x) +14x = 246

Explanation:

If Esmeralda worked x hours at the first job, then she worked (19-x) hours at the second job. The pay for each job is the product of the hourly rate and the number of hours. The total pay for the week is the sum of the amounts of pay for each of the jobs.

... second job's pay + first job's pay = total weekly earnings

... 12(19 -x) + 14x = 246

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Solution to the equation

... x = (246 -12·19)/(14 -12) = 9

Esmeralda worked 9 hours at the first job.