Question: A lot of people have been sick at Gary's workplace, so he's been working a lot of extra shifts to fill in for people. As a result, he's earned some overtime (where every hour after 40 he earns 1.5 times his normal wage.) His paycheck (before taxes are taken out) came out to $696. If Gary normally earns $12 per hour, how many hours did he work that week?
Solution:
Gary earned overtime, so he worked at least 40 hours. for which he was paid 40 hours * $12/hour = $480 at his normal wage.
This means that $696 - $480 = $216 was earned at his overtime wage.
His overtime wage is 1.5 his normal wage, or $12 * 1.5 = $18 per hour.
So Gary worked $216 / $18 per hour = 12 hours' worth of overtime.
So in total, Gary worked 40 hours + 12 hours = 52 hours that week.
Answer: 52