A shipping boat's crew consisted of 17 sailors, with five inexperienced sailors. Each experienced sailor was paid 1/5 times more than the inexperienced sailors. If the inexperienced sailors were paid $10 per hour for a 60-hour workweek, calculate the total combined monthly earnings of the experienced sailors.
Thoughts? Step-by-step reasoning:
If the experienced sailors received 1 / 5 times more money than the inexperienced sailors, they were paid 1 / 5 * 10 = $2 more. The total hourly earnings for the experienced sailors each is $10 + $2 = $12. In a 60 - hour workweek, an experienced sailor is paid 60 * $12 = $720. In a month, an experienced sailor is paid 4 * $720 = $2880. If there were five inexperienced sailors, the total number of experienced sailors was 17 - 5 = 12. If each experienced sailor was paid $2280 per month, the total combined monthly earnings for the experienced is 12 * 2880 = $34560.
Thus, the answer is 34560.