Total Pay

​Bethany is working her way through school. She works two part-time jobs for a total of 26 hours a week. Job A pays $6.50 per hour, and Job B pays $6.60 per hour. How many hours did she work at each job the week that she made $170.00?

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x = hours worked at job A
26 – x = hours worked at job B   {a total of 26 hours for both jobs}

6.5x + 6.6(26 – x) = 170   {$/hour times number of hours = total pay}
6.5x + 171.6 – 6.6x = 170   {distributive property}
-0.1x + 171.6 = 170   {combined like terms}
-0.1x = -1.6   {subtracted 171.6 from each side}
x = 16   {divided by -0.1}

26 – x   {job B hours}
= 26 – 16  {substituted 16 for x}
= 10   {subtracted}

16 hours at job A
10 hours at job B

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