Final answer:
The equation y = 25 + 15x represents the total amount Maggie paid, with x representing the number of hours worked. Solving the equation, we find that the cleaning company worked for 4 hours.
Step-by-step explanation:
To determine the number of hours that the cleaning company worked, we can set up an equation based on the given information. The cleaning company charges a fixed fee of $25 plus $15 per hour of work. Let's denote the number of hours worked as x. The equation would be:
y = 25 + 15x
where y represents the total amount Maggie paid and x represents the number of hours worked. Since Maggie paid $85, we can substitute y with 85 and solve the equation.
85 = 25 + 15x
60 = 15x
x = 4
Therefore, the cleaning company worked for 4 hours.