A student works two part-time jobs: tutoring, which pays 20 dollars per hour, and working … — SAT

A student works two part-time jobs: tutoring, which pays $20$ dollars per hour, and working at a bookstore, which pays $12$ dollars per hour. The student can work at most $15$ hours per week and wants to earn at least $220$ dollars per week. If the student works a whole number of hours at each job, what is the minimum number of hours the student must tutor to meet these requirements?

Answer: 5 hours

Answer

The system of inequalities modeling the scenario consists of

x + y \leq 15

(representing the limit on total hours) and

20x + 12y \geq 220

(representing the earning target), where

x

is the hours of tutoring and

y

is the hours at the bookstore. To find the minimum hours of tutoring, we assume the maximum bookstore hours

y = 15 - x

and substitute it into the earnings equation:

20x + 12(15 - x) \geq 220

. Simplifying yields

8x + 180 \geq 220

, which reduces to

8x \geq 40

, or

x \geq 5

. The minimum integer value that satisfies this condition is 5.

Step-by-Step Solution

Define variables and set up the constraint for total hours worked.

x + y \leq 15

Let

x

be the number of hours tutoring and

y

be the number of hours working at the bookstore. The total hours cannot exceed 15.

Set up the constraint for the minimum weekly earnings.

20x + 12y \geq 220

Tutoring pays

20

dollars per hour and the bookstore pays

12

dollars per hour, and the total earnings must be at least

220

dollars.

Substitute the maximum value of

y

in terms of

x

into the earnings inequality.

20x + 12(15 - x) \geq 220

To minimize

x

, we must maximize

y

. From

x + y \leq 15

, the maximum value of

y

15 - x

Solve the inequality for

x

x \geq 5

Distribute and simplify:

20x + 180 - 12x \geq 220 \Rightarrow 8x + 180 \geq 220 \Rightarrow 8x \geq 40 \Rightarrow x \geq 5

Key Concept

Solving systems of linear inequalities to find optimal boundary values in context.

Estimated Time:1m 30s

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