Question

Suppose you are a salesperson for the Acme Dynamite Company. Each month you earn $400 plus one sixth of your sales. What amount must you sell this month to earn more than $3000?

Answer 1

More than $15,600.

Explanation:

What you need to earn - what you earn monthly = 1/6 of the amount you need to sell.

3,000 - 400 = 2,600

2,600 is ONE sixth of the sales.

2,600 * 6 = 15,600.

You must sell MORE than $15,600 worth of sales in order to earn more than $3,000.

Answer 2

$15600 worth of explosives

Explanation:

The technique I use in solving these problem is working backwards. I'm given the total amount to I set the rest of the equation to said amount. Another piece that we are given is the wage. This number is independent from any other number, therefore we can leave it by itself on the other side of the equation.

`$3000=$400x`

We are given a commission amount, this number is dependent on another number, and that's the number we're looking for.

`$3000=$400 (1//6x)`

Now that our equation is set, we can begin solving by isolating our variable.

`$3000-$400=(1/6x)`

=`$2600=(1/6x)`

=`($2600)/(1/6)`=`x`

`x=$15600`