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Re: Combining work rates (other ways to solve these problems?) [#permalink]
Let say Tom's working rate is t and Mary's working rate is m.

10t=6(t+m)
4t=6m
=>10t=15m

In other words, the work that Tom can finish in 10 hours, Mary will need 15 hours to finish it.

It's quite similar to distance problem, actually.
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Re: Combining work rates (other ways to solve these problems?) [#permalink]
HongHu wrote:
Let say Tom's working rate is t and Mary's working rate is m.

10t=6(t+m)
4t=6m
=>10t=15m

In other words, the work that Tom can finish in 10 hours, Mary will need 15 hours to finish it.

It's quite similar to distance problem, actually.


Here is another approach:

Tom can do a job in 10 hours means he doesn 1/10 of the job in an hour

Tom and Mary can do the same job in 6 hours means they both can get 1/6 of the job done in an hour.

To find Mary’s rate (M), then the sum of their rate per hour = their rate combined per hour.

1/10 + 1/M = 1/6.
1/M = 4/60 (note that this is the time it takes marry per hour)
Take the reciprocal of this fraction and you will get the time it takes marry to complete the same job alone = 60 / 4 = 15 hours.

I hope that helps.
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Re: Combining work rates (other ways to solve these problems?) [#permalink]
Nocilis, could you give an example using your method of solving?
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Re: Combining work rates (other ways to solve these problems?) [#permalink]
1/T + 1/M = 1/6

1/10 + 1/M = 1/6

1/M = 1/6-1/10
1/M = 4/60 = 1/12

M = 12 hr
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Re: Combining work rates (other ways to solve these problems?) [#permalink]
scorer wrote:
1/T + 1/M = 1/6

1/10 + 1/M = 1/6

1/M = 1/6-1/10
1/M = 4/60 = 1/12

M = 12 hr


oops! i mean M=15 hr.
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Re: Combining work rates (other ways to solve these problems?) [#permalink]
HEllo HH, I am trying to learn all the different methods to solve this, but I missed a step in your solution.

How did you go from: 4t=6m to 10t=15m
ThanksTP
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Re: Combining work rates (other ways to solve these problems?) [#permalink]
texaspunk wrote:
HEllo HH, I am trying to learn all the different methods to solve this, but I missed a step in your solution.

How did you go from: 4t=6m to 10t=15m
ThanksTP


10t=6(t+m)
4t=6m
t=1.5m

Here, you get the ratio of Tom's work to Mary's work. Knowing that Tom takes 10 hours, you plug that in to the ratio and get 15 for Mary.

I would probably go about it like Folaa3 does... I usually figure out how much of a job each can do in an hour...
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Re: Combining work rates (other ways to solve these problems?) [#permalink]
halahpeno is right. Though I would try to avoid fractions and/or decimals in the test to save time. So what I'd do is this:

4t=6m
2t=3m (divided both sides by 2)
10t=15m (multiply both sides by 5)

:)



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