a Using the given information, form an expression for the total amount of money the waiter earned.
B
b Substitute the given value into the equation from Part A and solve it for h.
C
c First change the equation to describe the new situation.
A
a t=2.50h+198
B
b 6 hours
C
c $180
Practice makes perfect
a We are told that a waiter at the five-star restaurant makes $2.50 per hour. Multiplying this value by the number of hours the waiter has worked h, we get how much he earned.
2.50h
It is also given that the waiter receives $198 in tips. This amount does not depend on the number of hours the waiter worked, so we just add it to what the waiter has already earned.
2.50h+198
This way we got the expression for the amount of money the waiter earned after working for h hours. We know that this amount is represented by t. Therefore, we get the following equation.
t=2.50h+198
b It is given that the waiter earned a total of $213. In order to find the number of hours that he worked, let's substitute 213 for t in the equation from Part A. Then we will solve it for h.
c This time we are given that the waiter earned $150 instead of $198 in tips. Let's change this in the equation.
t=2.50h+ 198 ⇒ t=2.50h+ 150
Now we can substitute the number of hours the waiter worked, 12, for h in the equation. Then we will be able to solve it for t.
