Real-Life Math
Your tribal council recently funded a new health-care clinic. The
clinic has been so popular with tribal members that the full-time nurse who
works there says he needs more help. But can the tribe afford to hire another
nurse to help out?
"Tribal leaders don't usually have to spend
time calculating and administering budgets," says Brent Merrill. He works
with a tribe. "They express the desires of the council, and the budget directors
then calculate whether the needs can be met."
However, tribal leaders
need to be able to use math to understand budget concerns, and to grasp the
concepts put before them by treasurers and budget directors.
The budget
director has looked into your request for more nurses at the health-care clinic.
What were his findings?
The band has budgeted $55,000 for next year's
wages for the health-care clinic. The full-time nurse working there earns
$18 per hour, and is paid to work 40 hours per week, 52 weeks of the year.
If
you hire another part-time nurse, you will also give her $18 per hour. With
the remaining amount of the budget (after accounting for the full-time nurse's
salary), how many hours per week can you afford to hire the part-time nurse
for?
Remember: you want her to work approximately the same number of
hours each week, 52 weeks of the year.