Question

Lana makes $8 an hour plus $12 an hour for every hour of overtime. Overtime hours are any hours more than 40 hours for the week.

Part A: Create an equation that shows the amount of wages earned, W, for working x hours in a week when there is no overtime.

Part B: Create an equation that shows the amount of wages earned, S, for working y hours of overtime. Hint: Remember to include in the equation the amount earned from working 40 hours.

Part C: Lana earned $368 in 1 week. How many hours (regular plus overtime) did she work?

Answer 1

x= regular hours worked

A.
Rate in dollars per hour times x, which is in dollars gives us dollars made:
Wages earned = W = 8x

If she had worked overtime, then W = 40*8 + 12y, where y is the number of overtime hours. If she made $500 dollars in a week, then the amount of overtime (if any) can be found from 500 = 40*8+12*y. If y turns out to be negative or zero, then use 500=40x to determine the number of hours worked since the number of overtime hours is zero. In either case, total number of hours worked is x+y.