A salesman makes both a base salary and also a commission, which is a percentage of what he sells. Each month, if his sales total s dollars, he makes a total of 2,000 + 0.1s dollars. What does 2,000 represent?

Question

his monthly base salary in dollars

the amount of his monthly sales in dollars

his total monthly pay in dollars

his monthly commission in dollars

Answer 1

In the expression for the total earnings of the salesman, \( 2000 + 0.1s \):

• \( 2000 \) represents a fixed amount that the salesman earns regardless of his sales. This amount is his base salary.
• \( 0.1s \) represents the commission he earns, which is 10% of his sales total \( s \).

Thus, \( 2000 \) represents the salesman's monthly base salary in dollars.