word problem

Question

Jodi earned 22.75 for working 3 1/2 hours. what was her hourly wage?

 I could not figure this out I turned the 22.75 into a fraction as 22/75 and the 3 1/2 as 7/2 thus 22/75 divided by 7/2 but its not coming out right, please help me Im prepping for an entrance test and this is getting me stuck

Answer 1

Hello Tamika - 

Fractions and decimals can sometimes be confusing, as well as which figure to place as a numerator or denominator in a word problem. 

No worries - as the other answers explained, this can be solved in two ways, but the easiest would be as a decimal problem.

In this problem the wage of $22.75 will be your numerator, because it is the number you need to divide. Then the number of hours will be your denominator or divisor, because this is how many times you need to divide the wage to determine the wage per hour. Also, 3 and 1/2 is the same as 3.5. 

$22.75 divided by 3.5 is $6.50.

You can check your work by doing the corresponding multiplication problem:

If she works for 3.5 hours and earns $6.50 per hour, you get: 3.5 x $6.50 = $22.75

Answer 2

Tamika, you really need to study decimals to fractions and vice versa.

 

22.75 = 22 75/100 = 22 3/4 = 91/4

 

Orrrrrr, you should know that 3 1/2 = 3.5.

Answer 3

hourly rate is simply $22.75 ÷ 3.5, which you can do easily on a calculator or on paper.