One person does a job in 7 hours and another in 8 hours. How long together?
Working together they take 56/15 hours (about 3.7333333 hours, or 3 h 44 min).
How to work it out
- 1
Think in rates: in one hour the first does 1/7 of the job and the second does 1/8.
- 2
Together in one hour they do the sum of the rates:
- 3
If they do 15/56 of the job per hour, the whole job takes the reciprocal:
- 4
Check: that is less than 7 hours, the faster worker alone, as it should be ✓
LaTeX source of the formulas on this page
\[ \frac{1}{7} + \frac{1}{8} = \frac{1}{t}\ \Rightarrow\ t = \frac{56}{15} \]
\[ \frac{1}{7} + \frac{1}{8} = \frac{8 + 7}{56} = \frac{15}{56} \]
\[ t = \frac{56}{15} = \frac{56}{15} \approx 3.7333333\text{ hours} \]Questions
How long do they take together?
Working together they take 56/15 hours (about 3.7333333 hours, or 3 h 44 min).