Norton Food Wholesale pays all sales representatives \( 4 \% \) commission on the first \( \$ 5000 \) of their individual sales and \( 7 \% \) commission on their individual sale excess of \( \$ 5000 \). Assume that Eric Thompson sold merchandise valued at \( \$ 49,500 \) during the month of May. Calculate the following amounts. (a) Commission on sales in the sales base:

To calculate the commission on sales for Eric Thompson, we start by determining the commission on the first \$5,000 of his sales. First, we calculate the commission on the first \$5,000: \[ \text{Commission} = 0.04 \times \$5,000 = \$200 \] Next, we calculate Eric’s total sales exceeding \$5,000. His total sales are \$49,500, so: \[ \text{Excess Sales} = \$49,500 - \$5,000 = \$44,500 \] Now, we calculate the commission on that excess amount at the rate of 7%: \[ \text{Commission on Excess} = 0.07 \times \$44,500 = \$3,115 \] Finally, we add both commission amounts to find the total commission: \[ \text{Total Commission} = \$200 + \$3,115 = \$3,315 \] Thus, the total commission Eric Thompson earned on his sales for the month of May is \$3,315.