Mike earns $6.50 per hour plus 4% of his sales enter an equation for mikes total earnings, e, when he works x hours and has a total of y sales, in dollars.

First identify what each variable means. since X is the amount of hours he works, and he makes $6.50 an hour, you know you need to multiply those two numbers together creating the 6.50x. You also know Y is his total sales, and he earns 4% of Y. To find 4% of Y you need to turn the percent into a decimal, and to do this you move the decimal two spaces to the left. Since 4 is a whole number, the decimal is after the 4 so you get. 04 as your decimal. Then youd multiply. 04 by Y getting. 04y. Lastly you add 6.50x +.04y to get E, mikes total earnings. So your final equation is

6.50x +.04y = e

Hope this all makes sense