I have recently been approached by a high school student who wants tutoring for using the program "Mathematica". They asked me what I, as a tutor, would charge, but I wasn't sure what a fair rate is. I've seen everything from $10 per hour to $50 per hour on the intarweb, but I'm guessing $50 per hour is too much for this scenario.

I don't want to charge so much that they don't return, but I also don't want to charge so little that I don't make much money. How can I maximize my profits, without knowing ahead of time how dedicated they are to learning the program? How much should I charge?

Evaluation?

Maybe you could set a reasonable "evaluation" fee, to determine interest/ability level, then set a fee based on the initial session?

Yeah, I agree. I would say around 20 dollars an hour would be good for a noob. If it wont take long then maybe charge 40 dollars an hour.