Official Solution:
Machine A can produce toys at a constant rate of 2 units per hour and machine B can produce toys at a constant rate of 5 units per hour. If at least one of either machine A or machine B produces toys, what is the greatest possible hours when machine A and machine B work together at their constant rates so that two machines, A and B, can produce 88 units of toys in 20 hours?
A. 5hrs
B. 6hrs
C. 7hrs
D. 8hrs
E. 9hrs
If machine A produces toys for "a" hours and machine B produces toys for "b" hours, and both machine A and B produce toys for c hours at the same time, you get \(a + b + c = 20, 2a + 5b + (2 + 5)c = 88, 2a + 5b + 7c = 88\). If you multiply \(a + b + c = 20\) by 2, you get \(2a + 2b + 2c=40\). If you take away two equations, \(3b + 5c = 48\) becomes \((a,b,c) = (10,1,9), (8,6,6), (6,11,3).\) Among these, the possible maximum value of c is 9. Therefore, the answer is E.
Answer: E