SOLUTION: A carpenter works on a job for 10 days and is joined by his helper. Together they finish the job in 6 more days. The helper could have done the job alone for 30 days. how long woul

Algebra ->  Rate-of-work-word-problems -> SOLUTION: A carpenter works on a job for 10 days and is joined by his helper. Together they finish the job in 6 more days. The helper could have done the job alone for 30 days. how long woul      Log On


   

Question 826493: A carpenter works on a job for 10 days and is joined by his helper. Together they finish the job in 6 more days. The helper could have done the job alone for 30 days. how long would it take the carpenter to do the job alone?
Answer by josgarithmetic(39621) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Carpenter's rate: 1/x job per day
Helper's rate: 1/30 job per day

ONE job is done, some by just the carpenter, and some by both carpenter and helper together.
The carpenter worked alone for 10 days...
%281%2Fx%2910%2B%281%2Fx%2B1%2F30%296=1,
Which means, the one job done was the carpenter working alone for ten days plus the carpenter and helper working together for six days more.

The rest of the solution process is just applying algebra or arithmetic.