SOLUTION: Amy can clean the house twice as fast as Thomas. Together, they can clean the house in 6 hours. How long would it take each of them working alone to clean the house?

Click here to see ALL problems on Rate-of-work-word-problems

Question 823648: Amy can clean the house twice as fast as Thomas. Together, they can clean the house in 6 hours. How long would it take each of them working alone to clean the house?
Answer by stanbon(75887) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Amy can clean the house twice as fast as Thomas. Together, they can clean the house in 6 hours. How long would it take each of them working alone to clean the house?
------
Thomas:: time = 2x hr/job ; rate = 1/(2x) job/hr
Amy:::: time = x hr/job ; rate = 1/x job/hr
Together: time = 6 hr/job ; rate = 1/6 job/hr
-----
Equation:
rate + rate = together rate
1/(2x) + 1/x = 1/6
Multiply thru by 6x to get:
3 + 6 = x
x = 9 (Amy's time to do the job alone)
2x = 18 (Thomas's time to do the job alone
-------------
Cheers,
Stan H.
=============