Tom and Alison are both salespeople. Toms weekly compensation consists of $300 plus 20 percent of his sales. Alisons weekly compensation consists of $200 plus 25 percent of her sales. If they both had the same amount of sales and the same compensation for a particular week, what was that compensation, in dollars? (Disregard the dollar sign when gridding your answer.)
Tom and Alison are both salespeople. Toms weekly compensation consists of $300 plus 20 percent of his sales. Alisons weekly compensation consists of $200 plus 25 percent of her sales. If they both had the same amount of sales and the same compensation for a particular week, what was that compensation, in dollars? (Disregard the dollar sign when gridding your answer.)
The correct option is B 700
Let’s use x for sales in dollars. Tom’s compensation (in dollars) will be 300+0.20x. Alison’s compensation will be 200+0.25x. To find x, set them equal to each other.
300+0.20x=200+0.25x
100=0.06x
2000=x
Now remember, the question didn’t ask you for their total sales! It asked you for their total compensation! Now that you know the sales, you have one more step to answer the question: use one side of the equation above to figure out what each person made that week.
I’m going to use Tom’s:
300+0.20(2000)=700
Let’s use x for sales in dollars. Tom’s compensation (in dollars) will be 300+0.20x. Alison’s compensation will be 200+0.25x. To find x, set them equal to each other.
300+0.20x=200+0.25x
100=0.06x
2000=x
Now remember, the question didn’t ask you for their total sales! It asked you for their total compensation! Now that you know the sales, you have one more step to answer the question: use one side of the equation above to figure out what each person made that week.
I’m going to use Tom’s:
300+0.20(2000)=700
