Ben worked 3 hours at x dollars per hour. Julie worked 7 hours and earned twice as much as Ben per hour. Phil worked 12 hours and earned 5 dollars an hour less than Julie. Choose the expression that is correctly simplified and best represents their total wages. 29x – 5
29x – 60
22x – 5
41x – 60

D) 41x - 60

Explanation:

You need to find the total wages of each person and add them together.

- Ben worked 3 hours at x dollars per hour so his total is: 3x

- Julie worked 7 hours but got 2x per hour so her total is: 7(2x) = 14x.

- Phil worked 12 hours and earned 2x-5 per hour. The 2x is how much Julie earned and Phil gets 5 dollars less than that, his total is: 12(2x - 5) = 24x - 60.

Now we add them all together: 3x + 14x + 24x - 60 = 41x - 60