Malik’s weekly pay varies directly to the number of hours he works as a lifeguard. His weekly pay is $246.50 when he works 17 hours. What is his weekly salary when he works 23 hours? Note: write a direct variation equation representing this situation, where p represents weekly pay and h represents hours worked, then use this equation to answer the question. Show all your work.

Answer 1

We are given that Malik's weekly pay varies directly to the number of hours he works as a lifeguard. The weekly pay is $246.50 when he works 17 hours. Let p represent his weekly pay and h represent the number of hours he works.

We can write a direct variation equation as p = kh, where k is the constant of variation.

Using the given information, we can substitute p = 246.50 and h = 17 into the equation to solve for k:

246.50 = k(17)

Divide both sides of the equation by 17 to solve for k:

246.50/17 = k

k = 14.50

Now that we have the value of k, we can use it to find Malik's weekly pay when he works 23 hours:

p = kh

p = (14.50)(23)

p = $333.50

Therefore, Malik's weekly salary when he works 23 hours is $333.50.