document.write( "Question 904682: Shawn earns an hourly wage plus tips. One week, he worked 12 hours and earned $117. The next week he worked 10 hours and earned the same amount of tips as he earned the previous week for a total of $110. What is Shawn's hourly wage. \n" ); document.write( "

Algebra.Com's Answer #548975 by AlgebraLady88(44) $\"\"$ $\"About$

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We are told that Shawn earns an hourly wage plus tips. So, there are two parts to his pay : hourly wage (hw) and tips (tps). \r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "We can write out two equations to solve this problem, making this a 2 by 2 equation with variables hw and tps.\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "12hw + tps = 117 (a)
\n" ); document.write( "10hw + tps = 110 (b)\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "We are going to multiply the second equation by -1\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "-10hw -tps = -110 (c)\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Now according to the rules of 2 by 2 equations, we can add equations (a) and (c)
\n" ); document.write( "which gives us \r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "2hw = 7
\n" ); document.write( "hw = 7/2= 3 1/2 or 3.5\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "So, we can see the hourly wage is $ 3.50 .\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Since the tips both weeks are the same, we have\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "The first week : \r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "12( 3.50) + 75 = 117\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "The second week :\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "10 ( 3.50) + 75 = 110\r
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