Choosing Salaries

The Big City Bake Shop wants to hire a second baker to work during a busy term for ten days. Three bakers applied for the job. However, each of the applicants has different requests for their salaries:

• The first one requests $6.00 each day for all the ten days.
• The second one requests $1.00 the first day, $2.00 the second day, $3.00 the third day, and so on.
• The third one requests $0.10 the first day, $0.20 the second day, $0.40 the third day and each day there after twice the amount of the day before.

Which baker is asking for the most money? The least money?

For each baker what pattern do you see ? Write a rule for how you would figure out how much this applicant would make on any given day (nth day).

Relevant InterMath Investigations:
Choosing Salaries : Your principal wants to hire you to work for her for ten days. Determine which way would you earn the most money.