Final answer:
The equation that models an employee's hourly wage based on the number of years they have worked for the company is wage = base wage + (years worked × increase in wage per year). In this case, the base wage is $7.35 per hour and the increase in wage per year is $0.20. Therefore, the equation that models an employee's hourly wage is wage = $7.35 + (years worked × $0.20).
Step-by-step explanation:
The equation that models an employee's hourly wage based on the number of years they have worked for the company is:
wage = base wage + (years worked × increase in wage per year)
In this case, we can let base wage be the wage an employee with 0 years of experience earns, and the increase in wage per year can be calculated by finding the difference in wages between two employees and dividing it by the difference in years worked:
base wage = $7.35 + (0 × increase in wage per year) = $7.35
$8.55 = $7.35 + (6 × increase in wage per year)
Subtracting the first equation from the second equation, we get:
$8.55 - $7.35 = 6 × increase in wage per year
$1.20 = 6 × increase in wage per year
Dividing both sides of the equation by 6, we find that the increase in wage per year is $0.20.
Therefore, the equation that models an employee's hourly wage is:
wage = $7.35 + (years worked × $0.20)