Question

It takes John 4 times as long as it takes Jessica to mow a lawn. If it took them both 11 hours to mow the lawn, how long would it take John to mow the lawn alone?

Answer 1

If you would like to know how long would it take John to mow the lawn alone, you can calculate this using the following steps:

hours (Jessica) ... a
hours (John) ... b = ?
a + b = 11
b = 4 * a
___________
a + b = 11
a + 4 * a = 11
5 * a = 11    /5
a = 11/5 = 2 1/5 = 2.2 hours

b = 4 * a = 4 * 2.2 = 8.8 hours

The correct result would be 8.8 hours.