document.write( "Question 653087: Tom and Butch can clean the lawn in 40 minutes if they work together. If Butch works twice as fast as Tom, how long does it take Tom to clean the lawn alone? \n" ); document.write( "
Algebra.Com's Answer #408243 by ptaylor(2198)![]() ![]() You can put this solution on YOUR website! Let x=amount of time it takes Tom to clean the lawn working alone \n" ); document.write( "Then Tom works at the rate of 1/x of the lawn per minute \n" ); document.write( "x/2=amount of time it takes Butch to clean the lawn working alone \n" ); document.write( "So Butch works at the rate of 1/(x/2)=2/x of the lawn per minute \n" ); document.write( "Tom and Butch together work at the rate of 1/40 of the lawn per min \n" ); document.write( "But together Tom and Butch work at the rate of 1/x + 2/x of the lawn per minute \n" ); document.write( "So, our equation to solve is: \n" ); document.write( "1/x +2/x=1/40 multiply each term by 40x \n" ); document.write( "40+80=x \n" ); document.write( "x=120 min-----amount of time it takes Tom working alone \n" ); document.write( "x/2=120/2=60 min--------amount of time it takes Butch working alone\r \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "CK \n" ); document.write( "In 40 min, Tom can do 40/120 of the lawn \n" ); document.write( "In 40 min, Butch can do 40/60 of the lawn \n" ); document.write( "Now if we add those together, that should equal 1 completed lawn \n" ); document.write( "40/120 +40/60=1 \n" ); document.write( "1/3 +2/3=1 \n" ); document.write( "1=1\r \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Hope this helps---ptaylor \n" ); document.write( " |