# Math Help - sequences word problem help

1. ## sequences word problem help

A salesman is paid commission of £10 per week for each life insurance policy that he has sold. Each week he sells one new policy so that he is paid £10 commission in the first week, £20 commission in the second week, £30 commission in the third week and so on.

(a) Find his total commission in the first year of 52 weeks.

(b) In the second year the commission increases to £11 per week on new policies sold, although it remains at £10 per week for policies sold in the first year. He continues to sell one policy per week. Show that he is paid £542 in the second week of his second year.

(c) Find the total commission paid to him in the second year.
I worked out 'a' to be £13780, which is correct, but i am stuck on 'b' , i looked at the answer and working but is does not make sense to me can someone please explain why =

(b) Commission = policies for year 1 + policies for 2nd week of year 2 =520+22=£542 this is the answer given at the back of my book.

if worked out the total commission of the first year to be £13780 , than should it not be 13780+22?

where did they get 520 from ?

2. Originally Posted by Tweety
I worked out 'a' to be £13780, which is correct, but i am stuck on 'b' , i looked at the answer and working but is does not make sense to me can someone please explain why =

(b) Commission = policies for year 1 + policies for 2nd week of year 2 =520+22=£542 this is the answer given at the back of my book.

if worked out the total commission of the first year to be £13780 , than should it not be 13780+22?

where did they get 520 from ?
You are required to find commision just for 2 nd week NOT the total

Hence For policies of 1st year commision for that week
=No. of policies * 10
=52*10 =520
And for the ones taken in 2nd year
Commission = 22

total = 542

You are required to find commision just for 2 nd week NOT the total

Hence For policies of 1st year commision for that week
=No. of policies * 10
=52*10 =520
And for the ones taken in 2nd year
Commission = 22

total = 542
but 52 weeks equals a whole year? I am still confused, and the commission for the second week for the first year is 20 isn't it?

4. Lets see it together
1- No. of weeks in first year = 52

2-So no. of policies in 1st year(every week new one) = 52

3-Commision for those in first year 10$per week 4- No. of weeks in Second year = 2 5-No of policies for it = 2 6-Commision for these 2 weeks was 11$ per week
Incase if you have trouble in any step(s) tell the step number(s)
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We are concerned with the commision earned in 2nd week ONLY

Now for this particular week(2nd week),The commission

= Commision from policies of 1st year + Commision from the policies of 1st and 2nd week of 2nd year

= No. of policies of first year * 10 + No. of policies of second year * 11

= 52 * 10 + 2 * 11 = 542