Official Guide - Word Problem

[Cybermusings]

John and Mary were each paid x dollars in advance to do a certain job together. John worked on the job for 10 hours and Mary worked 2 hours less than John. If Mary gave John "y" dollars of her payment so that they would have received the same hourly wage, what was the dollar amount, in terms of y, that John was paid in advance

1) 4y

2) 5y

3) 6y

4) 8y

5) 9y

[rahim]

9y?

[Princeton Review]

This is a confusing one which may be best handled by plugging in numbers. Let's say that John and Mary were each given $900 for the job, for a total payment of $1,800.

They worked a total of 18 hours on the job, but Mary only worked 8 of those hours. So to be fair, she gave John some money. $1800 for 18 hours work is $100/hr, and John worked 10 hours. So he should have $1000 and Mary should have $800 when it's all said and done. They both got $900 to start, so Mary gives John $100, which is "y" in the problem.

So y=$100.

How much was John paid in advance? $900. If we plug y=$100 into all the answer choices, we see pretty quickly that the answer is 9y.

[gabriel]

9y?

hi rahim u have got the right answer.. but it wuld be really helpful if u also post the solution to the problem .. it will help in learning different approaches to the same problem...

[jayhawk2001]

Writing an equation for the hourly wage,

(x + y) / 10 = (x - y) / 8
8x + 8y = 10x - 10y
x = 9y