document.write( "Question 663851: Sally can paint a room in 5 hours while it takes Steve 8 hours to paint the same room. How long would it take them to paint the room if they worked together? \n" ); document.write( "

Algebra.Com's Answer #412981 by vleith(2983) $\"\"$ $\"About$

You can put this solution on YOUR website!
This is a classic type of problem. The way I do these is as follows:
\n" ); document.write( "Sally can paint {1/5) of the room in an hour. Steve can paint 1/8 of the room an hour.
\n" ); document.write( "Together they can paint $\"1%2F5+%2B+1%2F8\"$ room per hour
\n" ); document.write( " $\"1%2F5+%2B+1%2F8+=+8%2F40+%2B+5%2F40+=+13%2F40\"$ room/hour
\n" ); document.write( "So how long to paint the whole room?\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( " $\"%2813%2F40%29%2A%28numberOfHours%29+=+1\"$
\n" ); document.write( " $\"numberOfHours+=+40%2F13+=+3.077\"$ hours. About 3 hours and 5 minutes to paint the room together. \n" ); document.write( "

\n" );