Trisha and Baldwin have summer jobs selling newspaper subscriptions door-to-door, but their compensation plans are different. Trisha earns a base wage of $11 per hour, as well as $2 for every subscription that she sells. Baldwin gets $3 per subscription sold, in addition to a base wage of $7 per hour. If they each sell a certain number of subscriptions in an hour, they will end up earning the same amount. How much would each one earn? How many subscriptions would that be?
Let's assume that Trisha sells x subscriptions in an hour.
Trisha's earnings from selling subscriptions would be $2 * x.
Her total earnings in an hour would be $11 base wage + $2 * x subscriptions.
Similarly, let's assume that Baldwin sells y subscriptions in an hour.
Baldwin's earnings from selling subscriptions would be $3 * y.
His total earnings in an hour would be $7 base wage + $3 * y subscriptions.
Since they earn the same amount, we can set up the equation:
11 + 2x = 7 + 3y
Rearranging the equation, we have:
2x - 3y = -4
Now, we need to find the values of x and y that satisfy this equation.
We can start by checking possible values of x and calculating the corresponding value of y. We can then find the point where the equation is satisfied. We can choose a value for x and then calculate the corresponding value of y, or vice versa.
Let's try x = 2:
2 * 2 - 3y = -4
4 - 3y = -4
-3y = -8
y = 8/3
So, if Trisha sells 2 subscriptions in an hour, Baldwin would need to sell 8/3 subscriptions in an hour for them to earn the same amount.
Now, let's find their earnings:
Trisha's total earnings = $11 base wage + $2 per subscription * 2 subscriptions = $11 + $4 = $15
Baldwin's total earnings = $7 base wage + $3 per subscription * (8/3) subscriptions = $7 + $8 = $15
Therefore, both Trisha and Baldwin would earn $15 if Trisha sells 2 subscriptions and Baldwin sells 8/3 subscriptions.