SOLUTION: If Sally can paint a house in 4 hours, and John can paint the same house in 6 hour, how long will it take for both of them to paint the house together? Please help work out

Question 745421: If Sally can paint a house in 4 hours, and John can paint the same house in 6 hour, how long will it take for both of them to paint the house together?

Please help work out the steps. I'm at 5/12x=1, but I don't know where to go next. Thank you

Answer by josgarithmetic(39617) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Think of each person's rate as the number of jobs per hour. When they work together, the rates are added arithmetically.
Sally: 1 job per 4 hours, meaning jobs per hour.
John: 1 job per 6 hours, meaning jobs per hour.

Sally and John both working at the same time: jobs per hour. Compute that expression!
The question was, how long for both of them to do the job together. This is, HOW MUCH TIME to do 1 job? That is the reciprocal of .

answer: 2 hours and 24 minutes to paint the house, when both work together
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