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Two Equation Rate Problems	Index

Simple Rate Equation Problems

Class I contains all of the problems with the basic rate formulas of the form

        a X b = c

For example:

        rate X time = distance
        rate X time = wage
        rate X value = tax

portion / whole = fraction Or the equation may be more complex as in

        rate1 X time1 + rate2 X time2 = wage

Some problems will have auxiliary formula's with addition or subtraction as the operator as in

        number of apples + number of pears = number of fruit

Most story problems are based on one or more standard equations. An important first step in solving these problems is to identify the equations needed. This is easily accomplished by selecting the equation that has the same elements as stated in the problem. Frequently, the equations are so obvious as not to be stated in the text books. For example:

        total = number right + number wrong.
Or they are known in a very general form:
        the total is equal to the sum of the parts.

Many Class I problems consists of single equations that can be solved directly from the values given in the problem. For example, some simple problems are:
Example 1: Joan works a 40 hour week at $5.40 an hour. John works 32 hours for $6.80 an hour. Jane earns $6.25 per hour for 37.50 hours. What are their wages?
Example 2: Mary had to work 6.5 hours of overtime. Mark worked 5 hours of overtime and Martin worked 8. They all worked a normal 40 hour. Mary normally earns $5.50 and hour, Mark $4.75 and Martin $6.00. For overtime, Mary got $7.60, Mark got $6.85, and Martin got $8.10 an. What is the XYZ payroll?

Some Class I probems are two equation rate problems to solve.