Labor hourly rates

Question

Katy recently hired a mechanic to do some necessary work. On the final bill, Katy was charged a total of $460. $285 was listed for parts and the rest for labor. If the hourly rate for labor was $50, how many hours of labor was needed to complete the job?

(A) First write an equation you can use to answer this question. Use  as your variable and express any percents in decimal form in the equation.The equation is     

(B) Solve your equation in part (A) to find the number of labor hours needed to do the job.

Answer: The number of labor hours was: ______

Answer 1

Answers:

(A)  50x + 285 = 460

(B)  3.5 hours

Supplied data::

Total Charge: $460

$285 for parts

$460 - $285 = $175 for labor given that labor is $50 per hour.

Solution:

Let “x” represent the number of labor hours needed to complete the job.

(A)  50x + 285 = 460

Subtract 285 from both sides of the equation to get 50x = 175.

Then, solve for “x” (number of labor hours required to complete the job) by dividing both sides of the equation by 50 to get

(B)  x = 175/50 = 7/2 = 3.5 hours

Test your answer by plugging 3.5 hours into the original word problem:

3.5*50 + 285 => 175 + 285 = 460 => 460 = 460 so it checks.