Question

Six boys or four men can complete a piece of work in 24days. In how many days will 3 boys and 10 men together complete the same piece of work?

Answer 1

1 boy = 1/6 of the job
1 man = 1/4 of the job

3(1/6) + 10(1/4) = K

1/K = time to complete

Answer 2

something along those lines

Answer 3

"six boys OR four men"... is that correctly expressed?

Answer 4

s

Answer 5

3(1/6) + 10(1/4) = K

1/2 + 5/2 = K

3 = K

24(1/3) = 8

Answer 6

@amistre64 do you agree with the wording of this problem? Using "or"?

Answer 7

it better be OR
if it is AND you cannot do it

Answer 8

suppose you say
Six boys AND four men can complete a piece of work in 24days
for all you know the boys do all the work and the four men go out and drink beer all day

Answer 9

I've never seen a working together problem with "or" in it.

Answer 10

i see no issue with the use of "or" ; we are still able to define the rate of a boy or a man with the information given:

4m = 1 job = 24 days
m = 1/4 job = 6 days worth of work

6b = 1 job = 24 days
b = 1/6 job = 4 days worth of work

Answer 11

10(6) + 3(4) = 72 days of work packed into the job; which is 3 jobs worth

Answer 12

they are working 3 times as fast, therefore a 24 day job is done in 1/3 the time

Answer 13

i got it.see 10/96+3/144=8

Answer 14

thatll work too :)

Answer 15

then wat ur trying to say

Answer 16

i said what i was trying to say ... i was reasoning thru the process

Answer 17

means

Answer 18

grt @amistre64

Answer 19

wat r u doing now

Answer 20

@amistre64
@satellite73

Answer 21

thats a fine method too :)

Answer 22

It's @satellite73 method. He still hasn't told me whether or not he's the originator of that setup.

Answer 23

i heard he got it from some guy in Sparta ...

Answer 24

but i just cant trust the voices in my head lol

Answer 25

I see you still got jokes.

Answer 26

grt all who replied my question

Answer 27

good luck anala :)

Answer 28

not only did i invent it, but i copyrighted it as well, and get a royalty every time it is used
my invoice is in the mail

Answer 29

Awesome :)

Share the wealth please.

Answer 30

kk

Answer 31

hey how m=2.4

Answer 32

Good question.

Answer 33

b and m represent something other than number of boys and number of men. I admit I didn't define it well.

Answer 34

3 is the number of boys and 10 is the number of men.

Answer 35

Actually @amistre64

Answer 36

Let me post another solution I think is correct.

Answer 37

b = 4
m = 6

\[\frac{(3b)(10m)}{3b + 10m} = x\]
\[\frac{(12)(60)}{12 + 60} = 10\]

Answer 38

b = days each boy worked
m = days each man worked

Answer 39

The solution I posted earlier...there was a fundamental flaw in it. I computed the wrong number the first time.

Answer 40

If it's wrong, please at least explain why it is wrong.

Answer 41

I think I'm beginning to see why it is wrong.

Answer 42

There's no way 3 boys can complete the work in 12 days. That would be faster than it takes the six to complete in 24 days.

Answer 43

:(

Answer 44

Maybe I'm looking at it the wrong way. Maybe the 3 boys could only do 12 total days worth of work because there are only three boys.

Answer 45

it takes 24 days for 6 boys to complete 1 job; it takes 1 day for 6 boys to complete 1/24 of the job; each boy does 1/6 of 1/24 of a job in 1 day; b = 1/144 of the job per day

it takes 24 days for 4 men to complete 1 job; it takes 1 day for 4 mens to complete 1/24 of the job; each man does 1/4 of 1/24 of a job in 1 day; m = 1/96 of the job per day

Answer 46

3(1/144) + 10(1/96) is the amount of work done in 1 day

Answer 47

1/8 of the work is done in 1 day; therefore it takes 8 days to do one job

Answer 48

Well my alternative method attempts have failed.

Answer 49

i think inverse proportions are involved with this. That's why you used k as the variable.

Answer 50

you are not calculating the appropriate b,m,workday ratio is all

Answer 51

I solved enough working together problems to know that there's alternative ways to solve them.

Answer 52

there are :)

Answer 53

I'll figure it out. Thanks for the extra tips.

Answer 54

youre welcome