what is the shoveling fee?.....

Question

Two friends shovel snow on a winter saturday. Some people pay them theirfee by handing themcash.Some give them their fee in an envelope. They split the money they make evenly.W What is thier shoveling fee? Explain how you know. Friend 1: x 1$ 1$ 5$ 1$ x Friend 2: 10$ 1$ 1$ 1$ 5$ 5$ 1$ 10$ 5$ 1$ . Could you write an equation for this problem? How might that help?

Answer 1

Total earnings, E=$(48+2x), assuming the two x's represent the same unknown amount given by two different customers to Friend 1,

Splitting the money evenly could mean they each get half: ½E=$(24+x).

So, they each receive 24+x dollars, if the differing numbers of customers each friend had is not significant. Between them they have 16 customers. The average fee per customer is (48+2x)/16=$(3+⅛x). Friend 1 has 6 customers so is entitled to 6(3+x/8)=18+¾x dollars, and Friend 2 is entitled to 10(3+x/8)=30+5x/4 dollars. That would be an even split based on how many jobs each friend did, so the differing numbers of customers each friend had is significant.