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Video solution from Quant Reasoning starts at 23:15
Subscribe for more: https://www.youtube.com/QuantReasoning? ... irmation=1
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Bunuel

I know this is a silly question but I want to ask:

The general formula is,
\(\frac{1}{x} + \frac{1}{y} = \frac{1}{x+y}\)

where,
machine X takes \(x\) hours -> rate of X = \(\frac{1}{x}\)
machine Y takes \(y\) hours -> rate of Y = \(\frac{1}{y}\)
machine X and Y together take \(x+y\) hours -> rate of X and Y = \(\frac{1}{x+y}\)

(1) says that
\(x+y = \frac{2x}{3} \)

No?
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custodio
Bunuel

I know this is a silly question but I want to ask:

The general formula is,
\(\frac{1}{x} + \frac{1}{y} = \frac{1}{x+y}\)

where,
machine X takes \(x\) hours -> rate of X = \(\frac{1}{x}\)
machine Y takes \(y\) hours -> rate of Y = \(\frac{1}{y}\)
machine X and Y together take \(x+y\) hours -> rate of X and Y = \(\frac{1}{x+y}\)

(1) says that
\(x+y = \frac{2x}{3} \)

No?

No. If machine X takes x hours to do the job, and machine Y takes y hours to do the job, then when working together they should take less time then individually to do the job, no? So, how it can be x + y hours?

The rate of machine X is 1/x and the rate of machine Y is 1/y. The combined rate of the machines is 1/x + 1/y = (x + y)/(xy). Thus, the time they need when working together to do the job is xy/(x + y) (time is the reciprocal of rate).

Hope it's clear.
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Dear experts,suggest if following approach is correct or not ?
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I believe the key here is that the question is referencing HOURS and the options just mention relation to TIME. no units. This time could be seconds, minutes, hours, etc. Without any given values one can't answer number of hours..
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straightaway by looking at statements we can see that both the statements are only giving information regarding x and y in relative terms. there is no new value we can find out. so clearly E is the right answer choice
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