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| Question 173471:  I certianly appologize for the mistake of writing my word problem in capital letters it was made clear to me I was totally out of line ,I only intended the caps to help separate the problem from the question!!the word problem was Working alone, Jan could paint a certian room in 8 hours. Wade could paint the same room in 10 hours. How long would it take Jan and Wade working togeather to paint the room. I really need clarifacation on the equation used to get this answer, thanks
 Answer by Alan3354(69443)
      (Show Source): 
You can put this solution on YOUR website! I certianly appologize for the mistake of writing my word problem in capital letters it was made clear to me I was totally out of line ,I only intended the caps to help separate the problem from the question!! -----------------------
 I don't see what CAPS have to do with anything.
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 the word problem was Working alone, Jan could paint a certian room in 8 hours. Wade could paint the same room in 10 hours. How long would it take Jan and Wade working togeather to paint the room. I really need clarifacation on the equation used to get this answer, thanks
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 For this type of problem, you have to use the inverses.
 Jan can paint 1/8 of a room in and hour, Wade can paint 1/10.
 Now you can add them up.
 Together, they do 1/8 + 1/10 = 5/40 + 4/40
 = 9/40 of the room per hour, so it will take 40/9 hours.
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 Also, if there are 2 elements in the problem, you can use a shortcut:
 The product over the sum --> 8*10/(8+10) = 80/18 = 40/9.  It's much quicker when time is an issue, as when taking a test.
 
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