SOLUTION: if it takes 5hrs.to clean 2/3 of a large boat how long will it take to clean whole boat?I dont understand it I am very confused I am starting school after 25 years of being out of

Question 382935: if it takes 5hrs.to clean 2/3 of a large boat how long will it take to clean whole boat?I dont understand it I am very confused I am starting school after 25 years of being out of school please help, where I can understand. the kids in my class are half my age I feel intimidated by the math.
Answer by ptaylor(2198) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Let x=amount of time it takes to clean the whole boat
Let's first find our rate of work e.g. the amount of boat that we can clean per hour.
If it takes 5 hrs to clean 2/3 boat, then in 1 hour we can clean 2/15(2/3 divided by 5) of the boat so we clean at the rate of 2/15 boat per hour
Now our equation to solve is:
(2/15)x=1 (1 boat, that is) multiply each side by 15
2x=15
x=7 1/2 hours
Another way to look at this problem is as follows:
In 2 1/2 hours we can clean 1/3 of the boat
3*(1/3)=whole boat and that would take 3* (2 1/2) hours=7 1/2 hours
Hope this helps---ptaylor

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