asked 148k views
1 vote
It takes Rosita 32 hours to drywall a basement by herself and 18 hours if Paola helps her. How long would it take Paola to drywall the basement by herself? Round your answer to the nearest hour.

asked
User Lekoaf
by
8.1k points

1 Answer

3 votes
Let's denote the time it takes Paola to drywall the basement by herself as "x".

If Rosita takes 32 hours to do the job by herself, then her work rate is 1/32 of the job per hour. Similarly, if Rosita and Paola work together, their combined work rate is 1/18 of the job per hour.

Using the idea of work rates, we can set up the following equation:

(1/32) + (1/x) = (1/18)

To solve for "x", we can begin by multiplying both sides of the equation by the least common multiple of the denominators of the fractions, which is 288:

9 + 288/x = 16

Subtracting 9 from both sides, we get:

288/x = 7

Multiplying both sides by "x", we get:

288 = 7x

Dividing both sides by 7, we get:

x = 41.14

Rounding to the nearest hour, we get that it would take Paola approximately 41 hours to drywall the basement by herself.
answered
User BoP
by
7.4k points
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