SOLUTION: Jerry and Sam are laying a hardwood floor. Working alone, Jerry can do the job in 20 hours. If the two of them work together, they can complete the job in 12 hours. How long would

Question 737174: Jerry and Sam are laying a hardwood floor. Working alone, Jerry can do the job in 20 hours. If the two of them work together, they can complete the job in 12 hours. How long would it take Sam to lay the floor working alone?
I need help which math formula to use and how to perform steps for that formula.

Answer by josmiceli(19441) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The key is to know that you add their rates of
working to get their rate of working together
Let = Sam's time in hrs to do the job working alone
Jerry's rate: ( 1 job ) / ( 20 hrs )
Sam"s rate: ( 1 job ) / ( t hrs )
rate working together: ( 1 job ) / ( 1 hrs )
----------------------

Multiply both sides by

Sam would take 30 hrs to do the job working alone
check:

OK
RELATED QUESTIONS
jerry and kuba are laying a hardwood floor. working alone jerry can finish the job in 20... (answered by richwmiller)

Two people working together can finish laying a hardwood floor in 10 hours which the... (answered by richwmiller)

Jerry and George are painting a house. Jerry can paint the house in 3 days less time than (answered by josmiceli)

please help me solve this problem Two people could finish laying a hardwood floor in... (answered by jim_thompson5910)

jack and jerry can complete a job together in 4 hours. if jack require 6 hours to do the... (answered by ptaylor)

Tom and Jerry can paint a room together in 4 hours. Working alone, Tom can paint the room (answered by edjones)

Jerry can lay a tile floor in 3 hours less time than Jake. If they can work together, the (answered by Theo,MathTherapy)

jake can complete a job in 5 hours while jerry can complete the same job in 3 hours. how... (answered by stanbon)

Jake can complete a job in 5 hours while Jerry can complete the same job in 3 hours... (answered by richwmiller)