cgl7780 wrote:
Machines X and Y produced identical bottles at different constant rates. Machine X, operating alone for 4 hours, filled part of a production lot; then Machine Y, operating alone for 3 hours, filled the rest of this lot. How many hours would it have taken Machine X operating alone to fill the entire production lot?
1. Machine X produced 30 bottles per minute
2. Machine X produced twice as many bottles in 4 hours as Machine Y produced in
3 hours.
(I think you guys know the choices for DS)
There are several important things you should know to solve work problems:
1. Time, rate and job in work problems are in the same relationship as time, speed (rate) and distance in rate problems.time*speed=distance <-->
time*rate=job \ done. For example when we are told that a man can do a certain job in 3 hours we can write:
3*rate=1 -->
rate=\frac{1}{3} job/hour. Or when we are told that 2 printers need 5 hours to complete a certain job then
5*(2*rate)=1 --> so rate of 1 printer is
rate=\frac{1}{10} job/hour. Another example: if we are told that 2 printers need 3 hours to print 12 pages then
3*(2*rate)=12 --> so rate of 1 printer is
rate=2 pages per hour;
So, time to complete one job = reciprocal of rate. For example if 6 hours (time) are needed to complete one job --> 1/6 of the job will be done in 1 hour (rate).
2. We can sum the rates.If we are told that A can complete one job in 2 hours and B can complete the same job in 3 hours, then A's rate is
rate_a=\frac{job}{time}=\frac{1}{2} job/hour and B's rate is
rate_b=\frac{job}{time}=\frac{1}{3} job/hour. Combined rate of A and B working simultaneously would be
rate_{a+b}=rate_a+rate_b=\frac{1}{2}+\frac{1}{3}=\frac{5}{6} job/hour, which means that they will complete
\frac{5}{6} job in one hour working together.
3. For multiple entities: \frac{1}{t_1}+\frac{1}{t_2}+\frac{1}{t_3}+...+\frac{1}{t_n}=\frac{1}{T}, where T is time needed for these entities to complete a given job working simultaneously.For example if:
Time needed for A to complete the job is A hours;
Time needed for B to complete the job is B hours;
Time needed for C to complete the job is C hours;
...
Time needed for N to complete the job is N hours;
Then:
\frac{1}{A}+\frac{1}{B}+\frac{1}{C}+...+\frac{1}{N}=\frac{1}{T}, where T is the time needed for A, B, C, ..., and N to complete the job working simultaneously.
For two and three entities (workers, pumps, ...):
General formula for calculating the time needed for two workers A and B working simultaneously to complete one job:Given that
t_1 and
t_2 are the respective individual times needed for
A and
B workers (pumps, ...) to complete the job, then time needed for
A and
B working simultaneously to complete the job equals to
T_{(A&B)}=\frac{t_1*t_2}{t_1+t_2} hours, which is reciprocal of the sum of their respective rates (
\frac{1}{t_1}+\frac{1}{t_2}=\frac{1}{T}).
General formula for calculating the time needed for three A, B and C workers working simultaneously to complete one job:T_{(A&B&C)}=\frac{t_1*t_2*t_3}{t_1*t_2+t_1*t_3+t_2*t_3} hours.
BACK TO THE ORIGINAL QUESTION:Machines X and Y produced identical bottles at different constant rates. Machine X, operating alone for 4 hours, filled part of a production lot; then Machine Y, operating alone for 3 hours, filled the rest of this lot. How many hours would it have taken Machine X operating alone to fill the entire production lot?You can solve this question as Karishma proposed in her post above or algebraically:
Let the rate of X be
x bottle/hour and the rate of Y
y bottle/hour.
Given:
4x+3y=job. Question:
t_x=\frac{job}{rate}=\frac{job}{x}=?(1) Machine X produced 30 bottles per minute -->
x=30*60=1800 bottle/hour, insufficient as we don't know how many bottles is in 1 lot (job).
(2) Machine X produced twice as many bottles in 4 hours as Machine Y produced in 3 hours -->
4x=2*3y, so
3y=2x -->
4x+3y=4x+2x=6x=job -->
t_x=\frac{job}{rate}=\frac{job}{x}=\frac{6x}{x}=6 hours. Sufficient.
Answer: B.
Some work problems with solutions:
time-n-work-problem-82718.html?hilit=reciprocal%20ratefacing-problem-with-this-question-91187.html?highlight=rate+reciprocalwhat-am-i-doing-wrong-to-bunuel-91124.html?highlight=rate+reciprocalgmat-prep-ps-93365.html?hilit=reciprocal%20ratequestions-from-gmat-prep-practice-exam-please-help-93632.html?hilit=reciprocal%20ratea-good-one-98479.html?hilit=ratesolution-required-100221.html?hilit=work%20rate%20donework-problem-98599.html?hilit=work%20rate%20donehours-to-type-pages-102407.html?hilit=answer%20choices%20or%20solve%20quadratic%20equation.%20RHope it helps.
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