Question

Two laboratory technicians are running product quality tests. One technician takes 6 minutes less than the

other. What equation would give the amount of time, t, it would take to run the tests if the technicians work
together to split the work on the different tests?

Answer 1

The time it will take will be ;

t = (2x -6)/(x^2-6x)

Where x is the amount of time

in minutes taken by the technician who is slower

Explanation:

We want to write the time it would take to run the tests if the technicians work together.

Let the time taken by the first technician be x minutes

The time that would. taken by the second is 6 minutes less which is (x -6) minutes

So if they work together, how long will it take?

That would be ;

t = 1/x + 1/(x-6)

t = (x + x -6)/(x(x-6))

t = (2x -6)/(x^2 -6x)

The time it will take if they both work together is ;

t = (2x -6)/(x^2-6x)

where x minutes is the amount of time taken by the technician who is slower of the two