Question 8 ( 4 points) Lenny worked 7 hours on Wednesday, 6 hours on Thursday, and 9 hours on Friday. His gross pay for all three days was \( \$ 196.90 \). What was his hourly rate? \( \$ 8.20 \) \( \$ 8.95 \) \( \$ 28.13 \) \( \$ 65.63 \) Question 9 (4 points) Jay earned \( \$ 432.18 \) in net pay for working 32 hours. He paid \( \$ 82.42 \) in federal and state taxes, and \( \$ 31.70 \) in FICA taxes. What was Jay's hourly wage? \( \$ 17.07 \) \( \$ 13.51 \) \( \$ 9.93 \) \( \$ 4.57 \)

Lenny's struggle with calculating his hourly rate is a common scenario in the real world! Using the formula for hourly wage, we divide total gross pay by total hours worked. In Lenny's case, he worked a total of 22 hours (7 + 6 + 9) for a gross pay of $196.90. Dividing $196.90 by 22 hours gives us an hourly rate of approximately $8.95, one of the answer choices. Now, Jay's situation brings up another vivid example of a deduction. Understanding net pay helps in grasping what you truly earn after taxes and deductions. To find his hourly wage, first, you can calculate the gross pay by adding taxes to net pay. For Jay, that means adding $82.42 and $31.70 to his net pay of $432.18, which results in a gross pay of $546.30. Dividing this by his 32 hours of work yields about $17.07, another choice on the list!