Question

One pipe can fill a tank three times as fast as another pipe. If together the two pipes can fill the tank in 36 minutes, how many minutes would it take the slower pipe to fill the tank by itself? Your answer

Answer 1

Answer: 144 minutes

Explanation:

Based on the information that has been given in the question, the minutes that the slower pipe alone can use in filling the tank can be denoted by y minutes.

Therefore, the faster pipe will fill it in 1/3 × x = x/3 minutes.

Therefore,

1/x + 3/x = 1/36

4/x = 1/36

x = 36 × 4

x = 144

The number of minutes taken by the slower pipe will be 144 minutes.