SOLUTION
Let us represent the hotel charge with different variables x and y:
Let the hotel charge before tax in the first city be x
Let the hotel charge before tax in the second city be y
Now, let us represent the word problem in equation form:
First, we were told that the charge before tax in the second city is $500 more than the charge before tax in the first city, this can be represented thus:
[tex]y=x+500\ldots\text{.eqn 1}[/tex]Going forward in the question, we were told the tax for the first city (x) is 5%(0.05), and the tax for the second city is 6%(0.06). The total tax from both cities is $552.5, this expression can be written mathematically as:
[tex]0.05x+0.06y=552.5\ldots\ldots\text{eqn 2}[/tex]Now, by solving equation 1 and equation 2 simultaneously, we will obtain the hotel charge in each city before tax. (that is the value of x and y).
[tex]\begin{gathered} y=x+500 \\ 0.05x+0.06y=552.5 \\ \end{gathered}[/tex]Using, the substitution method of solving simultaneous equation, we will solve further:
[tex]\begin{gathered} \text{substitute equation 1 into equation 2} \\ 0.05x+0.06(x+500)=552.5 \\ 0.05x+0.06x+30=552.5 \\ 0.11x+30=552.5 \end{gathered}[/tex][tex]\begin{gathered} 0.11x=552.5-30 \\ 0.11x=522.5 \\ x=\frac{522.5}{0.11} \\ x=4750 \end{gathered}[/tex]The hotel charge before tax in the first city is $4750.
Now, substitute the value of x into equation 1 to get the value of y (hotel charge before tax in the second city)
[tex]\begin{gathered} y=x+500 \\ x=4750 \\ y=4750+500 \\ y=5250 \end{gathered}[/tex]The hotel charge before tax in the second city is $5250.
