Question

Julio is paid 1.2 times his normal hourly rate for each hour he works over 31 hours in a
week. Last week he worked 35 hours and earned $486.88.
Enter and solve an equation to find Julio's normal hourly rate, r. Complete the explanation
how you know that your answer is reasonable.

Answer 1

9514 1404 393

Answer:

  $13.60

Step-by-step explanation:

Julio worked 35 -31 = 4 overtime hours. For those 4 hours, he was paid at the rate 1.2r. Then his earnings were ...

  31r +4(1.2r) = 486.88

  35.8r = 486.88

  r = 486.88/35.8 = 13.60

Julio's normal hourly rate is $13.60.

_____

Why do we believe this is reasonable?

• 35.8 is a reasonable number of hours to be paid for, considering that each of the 4 hours of overtime effectively adds 0.2 hours of straight-time pay, for a total of 35 +4(0.2) = 35.8 hours
• the pay rate is an integer number of cents per hour, and is in the right ballpark between 480/30 = $16 per hour and 480/40 = $12 per hour.
• we can check the numbers to verify: 31×$13.60 +4×1.2×$13.60 = $421.60 +4×16.32 = $486.88.