Question

A worker is paid x dollars an hour for the first 8 hours he works in a day. For every hour after the first 8 hours, he is paid y dollars an hour. If he works 16 hours in one day, what is his average hourly wage for that day?

Answer 1

Because we do not know the amount of money, we can safely say that the equation is:

8x + 8y = 16

We know this because he is initially paid x/hr, and after 8 hrs he will receive y/hr

Answer 2

(8x) + (8y)

Explanation:

A worker is paid for 8 hour work in a day = x dollars

For every hour after the 8 hours he is paid = y dollars

He works 16 hours in one day. This means he worked 8 hours as overtime.

His average hourly wage for that day will be = (8x) + (8y)