Pet Sitting Savings

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Max agrees to take care of his neighbor’s pets every day after school. His neighbor agrees to pay him $20 per week, starting in January.

If Max does an excellent job, his neighbor agrees that on the first day of each month, he will get a raise of $3 per week.

So far, Max has done an excellent job.

Question

Max is saving money to buy a new gaming console that costs $250. Determine in which month Max will have saved enough money to buy the gaming console.

Justify your answer.

Solution

We will calculate how much Max earns each month and keep a running total of his savings. We’ll assume there are approximately 4 weeks in a month for our calculations.

Using these calculations, Max will have saved enough money to buy the gaming console ($250) by the end of March.

Justification:

In January, Max earns $80, which is not enough.
By the end of February, Max has saved $172, which is still not enough.
In March, Max earns an additional $104, bringing his total savings to $276.
$276 is more than the $250 needed for the gaming console.

Note: This calculation assumes exactly 4 weeks per month. In reality, some months might have slightly more earnings if they have 5 weeks. However, for budgeting and estimation purposes, our calculation provides a reasonable approximation.