SOLUTION: I have a word problem. What is the best way to solve it? Could you please help me answer it please? Thankyou very much .The problem is: One large hose can fill a child's

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Question 128735: I have a word problem. What is the best way to solve it? Could you please help me answer it please? Thankyou very much .The problem is:

One large hose can fill a child's backyard pool in 24 minutes. A larger hose can fill the pool in 12 minutes. If the two hoses are used together how long would it take to fill the pool?

Answer by Earlsdon(6294) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
One approach is to find the rate (per minute) for each hose, then add the two rates to get the per-minute rate for both hoses.
1) The small hose can fill the pool in 24 minutes, therefore it can fill 1/24 of the pool in 1 minute.
2) The large hose can fill the pool in 12 minutes, therefore it can fill 1/12 of the pool in 1 minute.
Together, they can fill %281%2F24%29%2B%281%2F12%29 of the pool in 1 minute.
%281%2F24%29%2B%281%2F12%29+=+3%2F24=1%2F8
So, working together, the two hoses can fill 1/8 of the pool in 1 minute, or 1 min = 1/8 pool
Multiply this by 8 to find out how long it takes to fill the entire pool.
8(1min) = 8(1/8 pool)
8 min = 1 pool
So it would take 8 minutes to fill the pool if both hoses were used together.