Question

A clerical worker takes 4 times as long to finish a job as it does an executive secretary. Working together, it takes them 4 hr to finish the job. How long

the clerical worker, working alone, to finish the job?

Answer 1

The clerical worker, working alone, would take 5 hours to finish the job.

Step-by-step explanation:

To solve this problem, let's assume that the time taken by the executive secretary to finish the job is 'x' hours. According to the problem, the clerical worker takes 4 times as long to finish the job. Therefore, the time taken by the clerical worker would be 4x hours.

Working together, it takes them 4 hours to finish the job. So, when they work together, they complete 1/4th of the job in 1 hour.

Now, let's set up an equation:

(1/x) + (1/4x) = 1/4

Simplifying the equation, we get:

5/4x = 1/4

By cross multiplying, we get:

5 = x

Therefore, the clerical worker, working alone, would take 5 hours to finish the job.

Answer 2

`(5)/(16)` hours or
`18(3)/(4)` minutes

Step-by-step explanation:

`(1)/(x) +(1)/(4x)= 4\\\\(4)/(4x)+(1)/(4x) =4\\\\(5)/(4x) =4\\\\5=16x\\\\x=(5)/(16)`

Calculating into minutes.

`60*(5)/(16)=\\\\(300)/(16) =\\\\18(3)/(4)`