Question

Chris earns four times Vesna's wage v and Vesna earns $17 more than Dawn. How many dollars does Chris earn if their combined wages are $163?

Answer 1

Call Dawn's wage x, we will have Vesna's wage = x + 17 and Chris' wage = 4x(x + 17). So we have the equation:
$x + (x + 17) + 4 \times (x + 17) = 163 \\ 2x + 17 + 4x + 68 = 163 \\ 6x = 78 \\ x = 13$
Therefore, Chris's wage:
$4 \times (13 + 17) = 120$