Problema Solution
A secretary at the police department makes $8 less per hour than the dispatcher. The combined hourly wage of the secretary and the dispatcher is $40.
Which equation could be used to find the hourly wage of the dispatcher?
Answer provided by our tutors
Let the hourly wage of the dispatcher be 'x' dollars per hour, then the secretary makes 'x - 8' dollars per hour.
Since the combined hourly wage of the secretary and the dispatcher is $40 we have the following equation:
x + (x - 8) = 40
By solving the above equation we can find the hourly wage of the dispatcher:
2x - 8 = 40
2x = 40 + 8
2x = 48
x = 48/2
x = $24 per hour
The hourly wage of the dispatcher is $24.