Write an equation using the following word problem and solve.

Question

Question: Tammy has saved her babysitting money for 12 days. She also has saved $50 from washing cars. She decided to budget an equal amount of money for each day of her 7-day vacation. She has $50 available each day of her vacation. How much does Tammy get paid each for babysitting?

Answer 1

First we have to find out how much money Tammy has for her vacation.

If Tammy has $50 a day to spend on her 7-day vacation, she has a total of $50 x 7 = $350.

Her total vacation money = the amount she started with + babysitting money.

$350 = $50 + babysitting money.

If we subtract $50 from both sides our equation becomes...

$350 - $50 = babysitting money.

$300 = babysitting money.

Since the $300 was made over a 12-day period, we can divide the $300 by the number of days she babysat and find how much she made each day.

$300 / 12 = $25

Tammy made $25 each day.

Answer 2

Let x be the amount of money Tammy gets for each day of babysitting. For 12 days, she'll get 12x. Add her savings, and she has 12x + $50 for her 7 days of vacation.

On a budget of $50/day, she plans to spend 7•$50 = $350 for the week.

The main equation representing this scenario is money available = money planned to spend

12x + $50 = $350

subtract $50 from both sides 12x = $300

divide both sides by 12 x = $25