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| Question 887220:  if 10 people made 1 building in 40 days then in how many days will it take 20 people to build the 1 building?
 Answer by Theo(13342)
      (Show Source): 
You can put this solution on YOUR website! the formula is: r*p*t = q
 r = rate per person
 p = number of persons.
 t = time in days
 q = 1 building
 
 when you have 10 people working on the building and they complete it in 40 days, then the formula becomes:
 
 r * 10 * 40 = 1
 solve for r to get r = 1/400
 
 when you have 20 people working at the same rate per person, then the formula becomes:
 
 1/400 * 20 * t = 1
 solve for t to get t = 20
 
 you can also solve this as an inverse ratio.
 the formula for an inverse ratio is y = k/x.
 solve for k in this formula and you get k = y * x.
 
 when you have 10 people working, the building is constructed in 40 days.
 y = 40
 x = 10
 let y = 40 and x = 10 and the formula becomes:
 y = k / 10
 solve for k to get:
 k = 10 * 40 = 400
 
 now that you know the value of k, solve the problem as follows:
 y = what you want to find out.
 x = 20
 k = 400
 formula becomes y = 400 / 20 which results in y = 20.
 
 if you did not know that it was an inverse variation type problem, then the first option would have been the way to go.
 
 the basic formula is r*p*t = q
 r is the rate per person
 p is the number of persons
 t is the time
 q is the quantity of work produced
 
 since you knew q = 1 building and t = 40 days and p = 10, then you could solve for r.
 the formula you used was:
 r*10*40 = 1 which resulted in r = 1/400
 
 once you knew r, you could solve for t when p = 20.
 the formula you used was:
 1/400 * 20 * t = 1 which resulted in t = 20
 
 
 
 
 
 
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