Question 165496
Understanding this problem will help you solve numerous real-life problems.
. 
18/24 is the rate for 2 people.
So find the rate for 1 person by dividing by 2
so you get 18/48 which reduces to 3/8
this is the rate of cats/minute fed by each person so multiply this by 3 people since that is how many people are now working to feed the cats.
You get 9 cats fed every 8 minutes.  
.
Now set up the equation to make the conversion:
.
{{{(9(cats))/(8(minutes))=(18(cats))/(x(minutes))}}}
cross multiply and then reduce 
9x=18*8
x=16 minutes