document.write( "Question 992308: Tammy and Cheryl are building a bridge over a small river. Tammy can do the job alone in 24 hours. Cheryl can do the job alone in 28 hours. Tammy worked on the project alone 4 hours before Cheryl joined her. The two then finished the job together. How long did it take the two to finish the job that Tammy had started alone. \n" ); document.write( "
Algebra.Com's Answer #611932 by Theo(13342)![]() ![]() You can put this solution on YOUR website! Tammy can do the job in 24 hours. \n" ); document.write( "her rate is therefore 1/24 of the job in one hour.\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Cheryl can do the job in 28 hours. \n" ); document.write( "her rate is therefore 1/28 of the job in one hour.\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "this is because rate * time = quantity.\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "quantity is equal to 1 because they are building 1 bridge.\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "for Tammy, this equation becomes rate * 24 = 1 which gets rate = 1/24. \n" ); document.write( "for Cheryl, this equation becomes rate * 28 = 1 which gets rate = 1/28.\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Tammy works alone for 4 hours.\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "at a rate of 1/24 of the bridge in 1 hour, she completes 4/24 of the bridge in 4 hours.\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "this leaves 20/24 of the bridge remaining to be completed.\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "working together, their rates are additive, so you get:\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "(1/24 + 1/28) * time = 20/24\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "simplfy this to get 1/24 * time + 1/28 * time = 20/24.\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "multiply both sides of the equation by 24 * 28 to get:\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "28 * time + 24 * time = 20/24 * 24 * 28\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "combine like terms on the left and simplify on the right to get:\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "52 * time = 20 * 28\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "divide both sides of this equation by 52 and solve for time to get:\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "time = (20 * 28) / 52.\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "simplify this fraction to get:\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "time = (5 * 28) / 13\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "this simplifies further to get:\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "time = 140 / 13 hours.\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "that's equivalent to 10 and 10/13 hours.\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "the decimal equivalent of that would be time = 10.7692307692... hours.\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "fractional form is an exact answer. \n" ); document.write( "decimal form is an approximaton.\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "4/24 of the job that Tammy finished alone and 20/24 of the job that Tammy and Cheryl finished together took 4 hours plus 10 and 10/13 hours for a total of 14 and 10/13 hours.\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( " |