SOLUTION: Shirley and Jena, working together, can paint the deck in 6 hours. Working alone, Jena takes three times as long as Shirley. How long does it take Shirley to paint the deck alone?

Algebra ->  Rate-of-work-word-problems -> SOLUTION: Shirley and Jena, working together, can paint the deck in 6 hours. Working alone, Jena takes three times as long as Shirley. How long does it take Shirley to paint the deck alone?      Log On


   

Question 1054715: Shirley and Jena, working together, can paint the deck in 6 hours. Working alone, Jena takes three times as long as Shirley. How long does it take Shirley to paint the deck alone?
Answer by Boreal(15235) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
x=Shirley's time to do it
3x=Jenna's time to do it
in one hour, Shirley does 1/x of the deck, Jenna does 1/3x of it. In 6 hours, Shirley will do 6/x of the deck.
Together, they do 1 deck in 6 hours.
so (6/x)+(6/3x)=1
multi6=3x
24=3x
x=8 hours for Shirley alone. ANSWER
3x=24 hours for Jenna.
Check
in one hour, they both do (1/8)+(1/24) of the deck, or (1/6) of it.