Final answer:
The performer at Hard Rock Studios worked for approximately 5 hours on Saturday night. This was calculated by setting up an equation with the total earnings of $215.85 being equal to the sum of the performer's hourly wage of $18.50 per hour times the number of hours worked plus $124 in tips. Solving for the number of hours gives us a result that rounds to 5 hours.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find out how many hours the performer worked, we need to create an equation based on the given information. We know the total earnings were $215.85, which is the sum of the hourly wage and the tips. The hourly wage is $18.50 per hour, and the performer received $124.00 in tips.
Let's denote the number of hours worked as x. The equation representing the total earnings can be written as:
Total Earnings = Hourly Wage × Number of Hours Worked + Tips
Putting the given values into this equation, we have:
215.85 = 18.50x + 124
To solve for x, we first subtract the tips from both sides of the equation:
215.85 - 124 = 18.50x
91.85 = 18.50x
Now we divide both sides by the hourly wage to find x:
x = 91.85 / 18.50
x = 4.967567568, which we round to the nearest whole number, gives us 5 hours.
Therefore, the performer worked 5 hours.