Word problem help, need to set up 2 separate linear equations............... A brick layer and an electrician together spend 90 hours working on a house. If the brick layer earns $12 per hour and the electrician earns $16 and the owner paid them a total of $1350, how many hours did each work?

Question

Word problem help, need to set up 2 separate linear equations...............  A brick layer and an electrician together spend 90 hours working on a house. If the brick layer earns $12 per hour and the electrician earns $16 and the owner paid them a total of $1350, how many hours did each work?

anonymous · Answer

If x is the number of hours that the electrician works and y is the number of hours that the brick layer works, then the total number of hours worked is 90.
x + y = 90.
If x is the number of hours that the electrician works, then he will receive $16x.
If y is the number of hours that the brick layer works, then he will receive $12y.
The total amount of money is $1350 so...
16x+12y = 1350

anonymous · Answer

how did you get the numbers 16 and 12?

anonymous · Answer

The question said that the brick layer is paid $12 per hour, and the electrician $16. So, the total mount of money that the brick layer gets is 12 * the number of hours he worked, and for the electricial it is 16 * the number of hours worked.

anonymous · Answer

so my two equations would be x + y = 90 and  12x + 16y = 1350 ?

anonymous · Answer

Yup, exactly.