Question

Jay works as a waiter at a resturant. He works 12 hours each weekend. Jay makes $5.50 per hour and he gets to keep 60% of his tips. If Jay wants to earn $150 before taxes, how much tip money should he get during the weekend?

Answer 1

Let's first write an equation for Jay's earnings before taxes:

`E = 5.5 * 12 + 0.6 * T`

where

`E`

is the total earnings,

`5.5`

is the hourly wage,

`12`

is the number of hours worked,

`0.6`

is the percentage of tips kept, and

`T`

is the total tip money.

We want to find the value of

`T`

that makes

`E = 150`

So we can rearrange the equation as follows:

`T = (E - 5.5 * 12)/(0.6)`

Now we can plug in

`E = 150`

and simplify:

`T = (150 - 5.5 * 12)/(0.6)`

`T = (150 - 66)/(0.6)`

`T = (84)/(0.6)`

`T = 140`

Therefore, Jay should get $140 in tip money during the weekend to earn $150 before taxes.