AMC10 2010 10A, Problem 8

Tony works $2$ hours a day and is paid \[0.50$ per hour for each full year of his age. During a six month period Tony worked $50$ days and earned \]630$. How old was Tony at the end of the six month period?

Solution: Tony works $2$ hours a day and is paid $0.50$ dollars per hour for each full year of his age. This basically says that he gets a dollar for each year of his age. So if he is $12$ years old, he gets $12$ dollars a day. We also know that he worked $50$ days and earned $630$ dollars. If he was $12$ years old at the beginning of his working period, he would have earned $12 * 50 = 600$ dollars. If he was $13$ years old at the beginning of his working period, he would have earned $13 * 50 = 650$ dollars. Because he earned $630$ dollars, we know that he was $13$ for some period of time, but not the whole time, because then the money earned would be greater than or equal to $650$. This is why he was $12$ when he began, but turned $13$ sometime during the six month period and earned $630$ dollars in total. So the answer is $13$.The answer is $\fbox{13}$. We could find out for how long he was $12$ and $13$. $12 \cdot x + 13 \cdot (50-x) = 630$. Then $x$ is $20$ and we know that he was $12$ for $20$ days, and $13$ for $30$ days. Thus, the answer is $13$.

Answer: 13