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5hr, 2hr, 2.5 hr
5x2x2.5 divided by 5+2+2.5
is this a wrong method?
What are you trying to figure out. Work=Rate x Time
Is the answer 55 minutes ???
whatever method works for you, that's good 🙂
But I thought I was supposed to use the formula.
For example, if it takes 12 hrs and 6 hrs then it's
12x6 / 18 = 4hrs.
But for some reason, it didn't work for this example. Maybe it only works for 2 ppl but not for 3 ppl.
ha, you guys think too much... I just did:
(5/3)(2/3)(2.5/3) = 25/27 hr... pretty easy to guestimate it's around 55mins...
Edit: Each over 3 because they each contribute 1/3 to the total workload
It works for 2 because: 1/A + 1/B = 1/T (T = total)
Thus B/AB + A/AB = 1/T
(A+B)/AB = 1/T
T = AB/(A+B)
For 3 people: 1/A + 1/B + 1/C = 1/T
BC/ABC + AC/ABC + AB/ABC = 1/T
(AB + AC + BC) / ABC = 1/T
T = ABC / (AB + AC + BC)
That's your problem. Your denominator is wrong.
With 5, 2, and 2.5 hours:
T = (5)(2)(2.5) / [(5)(2) + (5)(2.5) + (2)(2.5)]
T = 25 / 27.5
T = 50/55 = 10/11 hour (about 55 minutes)
Your way was fine. I just wanted to show him why the formula he used was not working.I think the way you did it and the way I did it are the same just worded differently.
You need to figure out what the rate is before you can do the problem and use the equation Work = Rate X Time. Combined time is what is unknown.
The rate for each work is (1/5), (1/2), (1/2.5)
Work=60 since 1 that's the combine work, and 60 minutes in an hour
60=[(2/10)+(5/10)+(4/10)]X
60=(11/10)X
(10/11)60=X
55=X
This is a fancy way to write a "rate * time = distance" problem. Here the rate is calculated with the 2/10 + 4/10 + 5/10. The time is represented in hours by the "X". The distance is the other side of the equal sign. Normally he'd use a 1 because you want to complete 1 full job. In that case X would be in hours. What if you wanted X to be in minutes? You would multiply it by 60. So to skip the middle step, he just multiplied both sides by 60. Now there's a 60 on the left, and on the right we have X in minutes instead of hours.Question for you if you don't mind: Do you always set the equation equal to 60? Sorry, I didn't quite understand how you got the value of "60."
Thanks!
This is a fancy way to write a "rate * time = distance" problem. Here the rate is calculated with the 2/10 + 4/10 + 5/10. The time is represented in hours by the "X". The distance is the other side of the equal sign. Normally he'd use a 1 because you want to complete 1 full job. In that case X would be in hours. What if you wanted X to be in minutes? You would multiply it by 60. So to skip the middle step, he just multiplied both sides by 60. Now there's a 60 on the left, and on the right we have X in minutes instead of hours.