The governor of state A earns $50,880 more than the governor of state B. If the total of their salaries is $285,140, find the salaries of each.

Question

I’ve tried doing this equation but I seem to get it wrong all the time, help!

Answer 1

Hi Ninoshka,

Let's use the variable B to represent the salary of the governor in state B.

Since the governor in state A earns $50880 more than that of state B , we can write the following expression to represent the salary of the governor in state A:

B + 50880

Using the total of their two salaries as $285140, we can create and solve the following equation to find the salary of the governor from state B first:

B + 50880 + B = 285140

2B + 50880 = 285140

2B + 50880 - 50880 = 285140 - 50880

2B = 234260

2B/2 = 234260/2

B = 117130

The governor pf state B will earn $117130.

The governor of state A will earn 117130 + 50880 = $168010