Initial fee charged by Joe's canoe = $20 Hourly charge of Joe's canoe = $4 Hourly charge of Callie's canoe = $14 No initial fee is taken by Callie's canoe. Let us assume the number of hours after which both places charges will be the same = x hours Then 20 + 4x = 14x 20 = 14x - 4x 20 = 10x x = 20/10 = 2 So after 2 hours the charges taken by both of them will be the same. I hope the procedure is easy and clear enough for you to understand.