gmattesttaker2 wrote:
I was wondering if you can please tell me where I am going wrong here:
Since John was paid x dollars and he worked for 10 hours, for 1 hour he was paid x/10 dollars
Since Mary was paid x dollars and she worked for 8 hours, for 1 hour she was paid x/8 dollars
Mary then gave John y dollars so that their hourly wages are the same i.e.
x/8 = x/10 + y
=> x/8 - x/10 = y
On solving, x = 40y
I think I am going wrong when I take, x/8 = x/10 + y
Can you please assist with this? Thanks a lot for all your help.
Best Regards,
Sri
The problem starts with the part highlighted above in
blue.
You have
x/8 = x/10 + y
First, x/8 does not represent Mary's hourly wage AFTER she gave John y dollars. x/8 represents Mary's hourly wage BEFORE she gave John y dollars. After she gives John y dollars, she received a NET amount of (x - y) dollars. So, Mary's hourly wage is (x - y)/8
Second, in your expression x/10 + y you are adding an hourly RATE (x/10 dollars per hour) with some AMOUNT of money (y dollars). We can't add two different things like this (e.g., what is 3 dollars per hour PLUS 5 dollars?)
To determine John's hourly RATE, we need the total amount of money he received (x + y dollars) and divide it by the number of hours worked (10 hours). So, John's hourly RATE = (x + y)/10
I'll let you take it from here...
Cheers,
Brent
