document.write( "Question 666681: Mutt and Jeff need to paint a fence. Mutt can do the job alone 6 hours faster than Jeff. If together they work for 10 hours and finish only 4/5 of the job, how long would Jeff need to do the job alone? \n" ); document.write( "

Algebra.Com's Answer #414627 by solver91311(24713) $\"\"$ $\"About$

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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "If it takes 10 hours for the pair to complete

of the job, then it takes

hours to complete the whole job, and therefore the pair working together can complete

of the job in 1 hour. Let

represent the time it takes Jeff to do the whole job. Then

is the time it takes Mutt to do the whole job. Then Jeff can do

of the job in one hour and Mutt can do

of the job in one hour. Now we can say that:\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Solve for

. Once you have it reduced to a quadratic in standard form, it will not factor. Use the quadratic formula. One of the roots will be less than 6, so discard that answer -- Mutt can't paint the fence in negative time, can he?\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "John
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\n" ); document.write( "My calculator said it, I believe it, that settles it
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$\"The$

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