Question

For Jessica, it takes 10 hours to paint a room. However, Mary takes 2 hours to do the same thing. If working together, how long would they take?

Answer 1

Explanation:

To solve this problem, we can use the formula:

Time = Work / Rate

where Work is the amount of work to be done (in this case, painting a room), and Rate is the rate at which each person can do the work (in this case, rooms per hour).

Let's let x be the number of hours it takes for Jessica and Mary to paint the room together. Then, we can set up the following equation based on the amount of work done:

1 room = (1/10) * x + (1/2) * x

The first term (1/10) * x represents the fraction of the work Jessica can do in x hours, and the second term (1/2) * x represents the fraction of the work Mary can do in x hours.

Simplifying the equation, we get:

1 = (3/20) * x

Multiplying both sides by 20/3, we get:

x = 20/3 = 6.67 hours

Therefore, it would take Jessica and Mary approximately 6.67 hours (or 6 hours and 40 minutes) to paint the room together.