A reservation clerk worked 12.6 hours one day. She spent twice as much time entering new reservations as she did verifying old ones and one and a half as much time calling to confirm reservations as verifying old ones. How much time did she spend entering new reservations?
The question is unclear and unrealistic. Calling to verify reservations is part of confirming old reservations.
Most hotels etc. do not call to confirm reservations
To find out how much time the reservation clerk spent entering new reservations, we need to calculate the time spent verifying old reservations and the time spent calling to confirm reservations first.
Let's assume the time spent verifying old reservations is x hours.
According to the problem, the time spent entering new reservations is twice as much as verifying old reservations. So, the time spent entering new reservations is 2x hours.
The time spent calling to confirm reservations is one and a half (1.5) times as much as verifying old reservations. So, the time spent calling to confirm reservations is 1.5x.
Now, let's sum up the times spent entering new reservations, verifying old reservations, and calling to confirm reservations:
Time spent entering new reservations + Time spent verifying old reservations + Time spent calling to confirm reservations = Total time worked
2x + x + 1.5x = 12.6
Now, we can solve this equation to find x, which represents the time spent verifying old reservations.
Combining like terms: 4.5x = 12.6
Dividing both sides by 4.5: x = 12.6/4.5 = 2.8
Therefore, the time spent entering new reservations is 2x, which is 2 * 2.8 = 5.6 hours.
So, the reservation clerk spent 5.6 hours entering new reservations.