Question

Paul and Tisha have summer jobs selling newspaper subscriptions door-to-door, but their

compensation plans are different. Paul earns a base wage of $15 per hour, as well as $3 for
every subscription that he sells. Tisha gets $4 per subscription sold, in addition to a base
wage of $4 per hour. If they each sell a certain number of subscriptions in an hour, they will
end up earning the same amount. How much would each one earn? How many subscriptions
would that be?

Answer 1

Paul and Tisha would each sell 11 subscriptions and earn $48.

Step-by-step explanation:

To find out how much Paul and Tisha would earn and how many subscriptions they would sell in order to earn the same amount, we can set up equations for both of them. Let's say they each sell x subscriptions in an hour:

Paul's earnings = base wage + (number of subscriptions sold * amount earned per subscription)

P = 15 + (x * 3)

Tisha's earnings = base wage + (number of subscriptions sold * amount earned per subscriptions)

T = 4 + (x * 4)

Since they earn the same amount, we can set the two equations equal to each other:

15 + (x * 3) = 4 + (x * 4)

Combine like terms and isolate x:

3x - 4x = 4 - 15

-x = -11

x = 11

So they would each sell 11 subscriptions and earn $48.