Question

Steve and Joy want to make some money over spring break. Their mother tells Joy that she will get a starting bonus of $7 and then $4 an hour. Steve will get a slightly different deal. He will get $12 to start, but only $3 an hour. When will Joy and Steve earn the same amount of money for the same amount of hours worked? How much did they both earn at that time?

Answer 1

joy=7+4h
steve=12+3h
solve when both are equal

7+4h=12+3h
minus 3h both sides
7+h=12
minus 7
h=5
at h=5
sub back to find it
7+4h
7+4(5)
7+20
27

in 5 hours, they both earn $27

Answer 2

just keep adding the numbers till they are even so in the case you have 11 15 19 23 27 31 35 39 43 47 for joy and 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39 41 44 47. so they both earned 47 dollars and joy worked 10 hours and steve worked 12 hours