SOLUTION: Maria can shovel snow from her driveway in 65 minutes. Tom can do the same job in 45 minutes. How long would it take Maria and Tom to shovel the driveway if they worked together?

Question 272395: Maria can shovel snow from her driveway in 65 minutes. Tom can do the same job in 45 minutes. How long would it take Maria and Tom to shovel the driveway if they worked together?
Found 2 solutions by scott8148, oberobic:
Answer by scott8148(6628) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
(x / 65) + (x / 45) = 1

45x + 65x = 65 * 45
Answer by oberobic(2304) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
With word problems like these, you have to take into consideration that there is one job that will be done in a specific period of time.
.
Tom can do 1 job (the whole job) in 45 minutes. So he can do 60/45 jobs per hr. Maria can do 60/65 jobs per hour.
.
Working together, they can do:
60/45x + 60/65x = 1
(4/3 + 12/13)x = 1
(1.33333 + .92037)x = 1
2.25370x = 1
x = 1/2.2537 = .44371
x = .44371 hr = 26.6226 min
.
You can check to see if their combined work will complete in 26.6226 min.
.
26.6226/45 = .591 of a job
26.6226/65 = .409 of a job
.
Pretty close...
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