Real-Life Math
As an autobody repairer, your day starts at 9 a.m. You enter the
autobody shop and begin working on your friend's car. It was in a horrible
accident. He was driving home one rainy night when a dog ran out in front
of his car. He swerved left to avoid the dog, and tried to turn right to avoid
a fire hydrant, but momentum took over. The left fender collided against the
fire hydrant and was smashed. The collision also took out the right headlight
and the right turning light and dented the right side of the fender.
It
takes you a whole day to finish the job. You miss lunch. After putting a 3rd
coat of paint on the fender, you push the car into the drying room where a
1,000-watt spotlight will bake-dry the car overnight.
The next day
you spend another 2 hours washing and waxing the car, cleaning the inside
and getting it ready for your friend to pick up. Your friend calls to say
he's going to be 15 minutes late. You decide to get the bill ready for him.
This
is where you will most frequently use your math skills as an autobody repairer,
according to Morris King, owner and general manager of an autobody shop. "Being
in autobody repair, math is an essential part of our workday. We have to keep
track of our labor hours, as well as the cost of parts associated with each
job. This can be tricky sometimes because autobody repairers deal with a lot
of miscellaneous damages and parts."
To figure out your friend's bill,
first you have to figure out the cost of your labor, then how
much the parts cost for the job. Since this is your friend, you decide to
give him discount of 10 percent. But don't forget to include tax.
Here
are your numbers:
Labor
You spent 10 hours
doing the job.
You charge the average rate of $25 per hour.
Parts
Paint
$95
Headlight $60
Turn light $40
New fender $200
Discount
10
percent
Tax
Seven percent