SOLUTION: A labourer built 35m of stone wall. If she had built 2m less each day, it would have taken her 2 days longer. How many metres did she build each day, working at her usual rate?

Question 1058784: A labourer built 35m of stone wall. If she had built 2m less each day, it would have taken her 2 days longer. How many metres did she build each day, working at her usual rate?
Answer by Boreal(15235) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
amount built per day is x m
time it took was 35/x days
if x-2 m, then it would have taken (35/x)+2 days longer
Therefore, (35/x-2)=(35/x)+2
Multiply everything by x (x-2)
35x=35(x-2)+2x(x-2)
35x=35x-70+2x^2-4x
2x^2-4x-70=0
x^2-2x-35=0, dividing by 2
(x-7)(x+5)=0
x=-5,7, use only 7 days
That is 5 meters per day
If she completed 5 meters per day, it would have taken 2 days longer, or 7 days.

RELATED QUESTIONS
A labourer built 24 m of stone wall. If she had built 2 m less each day, it would have... (answered by Boreal)

A labourer built 15 m of stone wall. If she had built 2 m less each day, it would have... (answered by ikleyn)

Hi, I would like to just say thank you for taking the time to answer my question.... (answered by josgarithmetic)

If a wall was built by 4 men and 2 women in 5 days how many days it will take to built... (answered by bucky,Theo)

A woman worked part-time certain number of days, receiving for her pay $ 1800. If she... (answered by josgarithmetic,ikleyn)

there were 4 workers that built A WALL IN 5 DAYS AND THERE 10 WORKERS HOW MANY DAYS DID... (answered by ankor@dixie-net.com)

A crew of 8 people can build a concrete wall in six days. If 4 more people had joined the (answered by ramkikk66)

tom mowed lawns a certain number of days to earn $300. if he had received $3 less per... (answered by josmiceli)

In a certain number of hours a woman travelled 2km . If she had travelled 7km more per... (answered by josmiceli)