John is paid at an hourly-rate of $15 an hour and overtime time rate of 1.5 times his hourly-rate for his work. If John puts in w regular hours and y overtime hours in a week, what is the total wage for the week?

15w + 22.5y = x

To calculate John's total wage for the week, we need to consider both his regular hours and overtime hours.

1. Regular Hours: John is paid at an hourly rate of $15. So, his total wage for regular hours can be found by multiplying his regular hours by his hourly rate, which gives us: Regular wage = w * $15.

2. Overtime Hours: John's overtime rate is 1.5 times his hourly rate. So, his overtime wage can be calculated by multiplying his overtime hours by his overtime rate, which gives us: Overtime wage = y * ($15 * 1.5).

3. Total Wage: To find the total wage for the week, we just need to add the regular wage and the overtime wage together. Thus, Total wage = Regular wage + Overtime wage.

Combining all of the above equations, we get:
Total wage = (w * $15) + (y * ($15 * 1.5))
Simplifying further:
Total wage = $15w + $22.5y

So, the total wage for the week can be determined by multiplying the regular hours by $15, multiplying the overtime hours by $22.5, and summing the results.