Question

Wilma can mow a lawn in 60 minutes. Rocky can mow the same lawn in 40 minutes. How long does it take for both Wilma and Rocky to mow the lawn if they are working together?

Answer 1

Answer:  24 minutes

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Explanation:

Let's say the lawn is 120 square feet. I picked 120 as it is the LCM (lowest common multiple) of 60 and 40.

Since Wilma can mow the lawn in 60 minutes, her rate is 120/60 = 2 sq ft per minute. In other words, each minute means she gets 2 more square feet mowed. Rocky can do the full job on his own in 40 minutes, so his rate is 120/40 = 3 sq ft per minute.

Their combined rate, if they worked together (without slowing each other down), would be the sum of the two rates. So we get 2+3 = 5 sq ft per minute as the combined rate. The total time it would take for this 120 sq ft lawn is 120/5 = 24 minutes.

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Another approach

Wilma takes 60 minutes to do the full job, so her rate is 1/60 of a lawn per minute. Rocky's rate is 1/40 of a lawn per minute. Their combined rate is

1/60 + 1/40 = 2/120 + 3/120 = 5/120 = 1/24 of a lawn per minute

x = number of minutes

(combined rate)*(time) = number of jobs done

(1/24)*x = 1

x = 1*24

x = 24 is the time it takes if they worked together without getting in each other's way.

Effectively, we are solving the equation

1/A + 1/B = 1/C

with

A = time it takes Wilma to do the job on her own

B = time it takes Rocky to do the job on his own

C = time it takes the two working together to get the job done

The equation above is equivalent to C*(1/A + 1/B) = 1 or (1/A + 1/B)*C = 1.

So basically you find the value of 1/A + 1/B, then find the reciprocal of this to get the value of C.