SOLUTION: A student did a word processing job for $24. It took him 1hour longer than he expected, and therefore he earned $4 per hour less than he anticipated. How long did he expect that it

Algebra ->  Rate-of-work-word-problems -> SOLUTION: A student did a word processing job for $24. It took him 1hour longer than he expected, and therefore he earned $4 per hour less than he anticipated. How long did he expect that it      Log On


   

Question 166720This question is from textbook
: A student did a word processing job for $24. It took him 1hour longer than he expected, and therefore he earned $4 per hour less than he anticipated. How long did he expect that it would take to do the job? PLEASE HELP ME UNDERSTAND WORD PROBLEMS. This question is from textbook

Answer by vleith(2983) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Assume the student expected to make D dollars/hour and work for H hours.
That student expected to earn $24. So, 24+=+D+%2A+H+
24%2FH+=+D
The problem tells you the student had to work longer for the same money. The student worked H%2B1 hours and earned the same $24. The student ended up getting D-4 dollars per hour.
24+=+%28D-4%29%2A%28H%2B1%29
Subbing in the expected return
24+=+%2824%2FH+-+4%29+%28H+%2B+1%29
24+=+%2824+-+4H%29%2FH+%2A+%28H%2B1%29
24H+=+%2824-4H%29%28H%2B1%29
24H+=+24H+-+4H%5E2+%2B+24+-+4H
4H%5E2+%2B4H+-24+=+0+
H%5E2+%2BH+-6+=+0
%28H%2B3%29%28H-2%29=0
So the student expected to work 2 hours or -3 hours. Since one cannot work -3 hours, the student expected to work 2 hours at $12/hour. Instead, the student worked 3 hours at $8/hour. A difference of $4 per hour

As far as "how do I do word problems goes", look for pertinent info. Many problems will give you more data -- some of it may be irrelevant. This problem gave you only good data, and no more or no less than required to solve.
The "trick' in this one is to know that wages= WageRate * HoursWorked