Let x be the number of hours the master electrician works and y the numbers of hours his apprentice works.
The master electrician earns $62 per hour, which means that he earns 62x. His apprentice earns $40 per hour, which means that he earns 40y.
Together they are paid $492, so we can get the equation: 62x + 40y = 492.
We know that the electrician worked 3 hours more than his apprentice. So he worked x = y + 3 hours. Now let's replace x by its new value in the previous equation.
Now we need to put variables apart and numbers apart, so we subtract 186 from both sides of the equation: 62y + 40y + 186 - 186 = 492 - 186 102y = 306
Now we divide both sides by 102 (102y)/102 = 306/102 y = 3
So the apprentice worked 3 hours. As we already mentioned, the electrician worked 3 hours more than his apprentice. So he worked x = y + 3 = 3+3 = 6 hours.
The master electrician earns $62 per hour. Since he worked 6 hours, he earns 62 * 6 = 372 dollars.
