Question

Two friends, Olivia and Melanie, took summer jobs. The equation y=22.2xy=22.2x represents Melanie's earnings in dollars and cents, yy, for working xx hours. Olivia earned $1156 in 40 hours. How much less per hour does Melanie earn than Olivia?

Answer 1

$6.70 per hour

Explanation:

We want to compare the pay for 1 hour's work.

Melanie's pay

The equation tells us that her pay for working 1 hour can be found from the equation using x=1.

y = 22.2x

y = 22.2×1 = 22.2 . . . . pay for 1 hour

Melanie earns $22.20 per hour.

Olivia's pay

We assume that Olivia's pay is proportional to hours worked, so pay for 40 hours will be 40 times 1 hour's pay.

pay per hour = $1156/(40 h) = $28.90/h

Olivia earns $28.90 per hour.

Pay difference

The difference in their rates of pay is ...

$28.90 -22.20 = $6.70

Melanie earns $6.70 less per hour than Olivia.