Brian O'Reilly earns twice as much each week as a tutor than he does pumping gas. His total weekly wages are $150 more than that of his younger sister. She earns one quarter as much as Brian does as a tutor. How much does Brian earn as a tutor? Use a Chart.

3 answers

let Brian's wage pumping gas be $x
then his wage tutoring is $2x

his sister's wage is 2x/4 = x/2

"His total weekly wages are $150 more than that of his younger sister"

If found that a lot of students have difficulty with that kind of a statement.
They don't know whether to add/subtact the $150.

I used to have my students translate the above into something like...

His wages are greater than the sister's wages by 150
---> x + 2x > x/2 by 150
so to make that statement into an equation we would add the 150 to the smaller side or ...
x+2x = x/2 + 150
3x = x/2+150
6x = x+300
5x = 300
x = 60

so Brian earns 2x as a tutor or $120

check:
Brian pumping gas : 60
Brian tutoring : 120
total of his wages = 180

sister : half of his tutoring or 30

does Brian make 150 more than the sister ? YES!
thank you so much
Mona Yahuso earns threee times as much as an actuary as she does as a writer. Her total income is $40,000 more then that of their brother. He earns half as much as Mona dose as an actuary. What is Mona's salary as a actuary?