Question

Ryan and karl spent 14 hours building a treehouse. ryan worked 1 less than twice karls hours. how many hours did each work?

Answer 1

Karl:  k hours
Ryan:  r hours

r+k=14 hrs
r = 2k-1 hrs

Then (2k-1) + k = 14 hours; 3k -1 = 14 hours;   3k = 15 hours; k = 5 hours.

Karl worked 5 hours; Ryan worked 2(5 hours) -1 hour = 9 hours.