MHB Simultaneous equations in word form (2)

AI Thread Summary
The discussion revolves around setting up simultaneous equations to solve for the wages of men and women based on given wage bills. The equations formulated are 6x + 5y = 670 and 3x + 8y = 610, where x represents the wage of a man and y the wage of a woman. Participants confirm the setup is correct, although one contributor suggests using m and w for clarity. There is also a critique regarding the assumption that all men and women earn the same wage, which some find unreasonable. Overall, the focus is on correctly interpreting and solving the equations derived from the word problem.
CSmith1
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The wage bill for six women and five men is \$670. The bill for eight men and three women is \$610. Find the wages of (1) a man and (b) a woman.

i set it up like this :

6x+5y=670
3x+8y=610

did i set it up right because word questions confuses me .
 
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Yes, you have set it up correctly. :cool:
 
CSmith said:
The wage bill for six women and five men is \$670. The bill for eight men and three women is \$610. Find the wages of (1) a man and (b) a woman.

i set it up like this :

6x+5y=670
3x+8y=610

did i set it up right because word questions confuses me .

When setting up the equations you might find it more intuitive to use m and w for the wages of men and women repetitively (you should also at a minimum say what each variable represents).

CB
 
Unfortunately, this problem assumes, without saying so, that all men make the same wage and that all women make the same wage. That seems silly to me.
 
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