Question

The number of bricklayers needed to build a brick wall varies inversely as the number of hours needed. Four bricklayers can build a brick wall in 30 hours. How long would it take 5 bricklayers to build a wall?

Answer 1

Answer: 24 hours

Explanation:

You multiply 30 by 4/5, since this is inverse.

If it took 4 bricklayers to build a brick wall in 30 hours, then it would 24 hours for 5 bricklayers to build a brick wall.

The amount of time is reduced down to 4/5 of the first time because there are now 5 bricklayers instead of four.

Answer 2

It would take 24 hours for 5 bricklayers to build a wall.

Explanation:

We can deduce the number of hours the bricklayers needed to build a wall because they are inversely proportional.

In other words, more bricklayers will result in fewer work hours.

4 bricklayers × 30 hours = 120 bricklayers hours

120 bricklayers hours / 5 bricklayers = 24 hours

Therefore, it would only take 24 hours for 5 bricklayers to build a wall. (Which is 6 hours faster since one person joined the workforce to help the others).

I hope this helps!