Question

Steve sells vacuum cleaners door to door. He earns a base salary of $500 plus $100 for every vacuum cleaner he sells. Steve also works selling encyclopedias door to door. He makes $300 plus $200 for every set of encyclopedias he sells.

How many items would Steve need to sell for the two salaries to be the same?

Answer 1

Answer: 04 items (02 each)

Explanation:
Steve's base salary is $500 and $300 respectively for selling vacuum cleaner and encyclopedia. Along with that his bonus is $100 and $200 respectively. If he sells 02 items each, his earnings would be as follows:
For 02 vacuum cleaner: 500+100+100
= $700
For 02 encyclopedia: 300+200+200
= $700

Answer 2

2

Explanation:

Let x = number of items Steve sells

Let y = salary earned

Create two equations:

Vacuum sales: y = 500 + 100x

Encyclopedia sales: y = 300 + 200x

Equal the equations and solve for x to find the number of items Steve needs to sell for the two salaries to be the same:

500 + 100x = 300 + 200x

Subtract 300 from both sides: 200 + 100x = 200x

Subtract 100x from both sides: 200 = 100x

Divide both sides by 100: 2 = x

Therefore, Steve would have to sell 2 items for the two salaries to be the same.