High School

Sam worked a total of 36 hours over two weeks. He worked twice as many hours in the second week as in the first. How many hours did he work in the first week?

Answer :

Final answer:

Sam worked 12 hours in the first week. By setting up the equation x + 2x = 36 and solving for x, we find that Sam worked twice as many hours in the second week, resulting in 12 hours for the first week and 24 hours for the second week.

Explanation:

To determine how many hours Sam worked in the first week, we can set up an algebraic equation based on the information given. If x represents the number of hours Sam worked in the first week, then he worked 2x hours in the second week since it's mentioned he worked twice as many hours. The total number of hours worked over both weeks is 36 hours. So, the equation is x + 2x = 36. Combining like terms gives us 3x = 36. To find x, divide both sides of the equation by 3, resulting in x = 12.

Thus, Sam worked 12 hours in the first week and 24 hours in the second week since 2x = 2(12) = 24.