Question

Phil and Meredith work for a book publisher editing mathematics textbooks. Phil has less experience and takes four times as long as Meredith to edit a textbook. Together, it takes them 16 hours to edit a textbook.

How long does it take Phil to edit a textbook if he works alone?


How long does it ake Meredith to edit a textbook if she works alone?

Answer 1

Let x be the time (in hours) it takes Meredith to edit a textbook alone. We know that Phil takes 4x hours to edit a textbook alone, since he takes four times as long as Meredith.

We also know that it takes them 16 hours to edit a textbook together. We can use this information to set up the equation:

x + 4x = 16

5x = 16

x = 16/5

So it takes Meredith 16/5 hours to edit a textbook alone.

We know that Phil takes 4x to edit a textbook alone, so we can substitute in the value we found for x to find his time:

4x = 4(16/5) = 16/5 * 4 = 64/5

So it takes Phil 64/5 hours to edit a textbook alone.