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Two mechanics worked on a car. The first mechanic worked for 15 hours, and the second mechanic worked for 5 hours. Together they charged a total of $1625 . What was the rate charged per hour by each mechanic if the sum of the two rates was $175 per hour?

Question

anonymous · Answer

Is it this one?

math_bender_15 · Answer

yes

anonymous · Answer

You can get someones attention by using the @ character. For example @math_bender_15

math_bender_15 · Answer

Thanks I didn't know that.

anonymous · Answer

So you can look at this question as simultaneous equations. Let's call mechanic1 x and mechanic2 y.$$15x +5y = 1625$$$$x+y =175$$Does that make sense?

math_bender_15 · Answer

A little bit, so would I add 15 and 5 together then subtract that from 1625?

anonymous · Answer

No. Treat x and y as separate variables. you could divide equation 1 by 5.$$15x + 5y = 1625$$divided by 5$$3x+y = 325$$

anonymous · Answer

Now we have $$3x+y = 325$$ and $$x+y = 175$$If we subtract equation 2 from eqaution1 we get.$$2x = 150 \rightarrow x= 75$$

anonymous · Answer

Meaning $$y = 100$$

math_bender_15 · Answer

so that means that the first mechanic will make $75 an hour for the 15 that he worked and the second mechanic will make $100  an hour for the 5 that he worked.

anonymous · Answer

yep.

math_bender_15 · Answer

Thank you, it makes sense to me now.