Question

Brenda has a job offers at two companies. One company offers a starting salary of $75,000 with a raise of $2,500 each year. The company offers a starting salary of $55,000 with a raise of $5,000 each year. In how many years would Brenda’s salary be the same with both companies ?

Answer 1

For this case, the first thing we must do is define variables.

We have then:

x: number of years

y: total salary

For company 1 we have:

$y = 2500x + 75000$

For company 2 we have:

$y = 5000x + 55000$

By the time both salaries are equal we have:

$2500x + 75000 = 5000x + 55000$

From here, we clear the value of x.

We have then:

$5000x - 2500x = 75000 - 55000\\2500x = 20000$

$x = \frac{20000}{2500}\\x = 8$

Answer:

Brenda's salary would be the same with both companies in 8 years.