let x = the money Adam earned for cleaning the attic
before Adam cleaned the attic, he had $22.33
after Adam cleaned the attic, he had $32
which means that the money Adam had before he cleaned the attic plus the money he earned while cleaning the attic equals the $32 he had after he cleaned the attic. you can set that up in an equation, like this:
x+22.33=32 OR the money Adam had before he cleaned the attic plus the money he earned while cleaning the attic equals the money he had after cleaning the attic.
So let's look at the equation again:
x+22.33=32
all we have to do is subtract the money he had before cleaning the attic from both sides of the equation(or just subtract 22.33) and we get:
x=32-22.33
and we simplify that to:
x=9.67
so Adam earned exactly $9.67 while cleaning the attic.