Question

Mai earns $7 per hour mowing her neighbors' lawns. She also earned $14 for hauling away bags of recyclables for some neighbors. Priya babysits her neighbor's children. The table shows the amount of money m she earns in h hours. Priya and Mai have agreed to go to the movies the weekend after they have earned the same amount of money for the same number of work hours.

Answer 1

Answer:

Each has to work 5 hours and earn $42

Step-by-step explanation:

Let m and h represent hours Nai spends mowing and hauling, respectively. Then (m+h) will be the number of hours Priya spends babysitting. In order for their earnings to be equal, we must have ...

 7m +14h = 8.40(m+h)

 5.60h = 1.40m . . . . . . . . subtract 7m+8.40h

 m = 4h . . . . . . . . . . . . . . divide by 1.40

Then the total number of hours worked by either person is ...

 m + h = (4h) +h = 5h

If only whole numbers of hours are worked, then the smallest number of hours that will make earnings equal is 5h, with h=1, or 5 hours. In that time, each will earn 5×$8.40 = $42.

Each must work 5 hours and earn $42 before they go to the movies.

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Nai will work 4 hours mowing and 1 hour hauling.