Jill gets 1.5 her hourly rate after she works 40 hours. She worked 52 hours and earned 638. What is her hourly rate?

Question

I ALWAYS get a repeating decimal! I need help!
40x- 12(1.5x)= 638
26.66...-12x= 638
Now what do I do? It's a repeating decimal!

Answer 1

so what? You know that .6666 = 2/3, so 26.666 = 26 + 2/3 = 80/3

but you did not divide 638 by 1.5 on the right side

better yet,

40x - 12(1.5x) = 638
40x - 18x = 638
...