How to Solve Work Problems Part 1

Word Problems in 1 variable: (Work)

Amount of Work Done = (Rate of work done per amount of time)*(Time)
WORK= RATE*TIME
1. If Jorge can do a job in 6 hours and Tina can do the same in 8 hours, how long will it take the two of them to do
the job TOGETHER?
R: In an hour Jorge can do 1/6 of the job
In an hour Tina can do 1/8 of the job
E: x/6 + x/8 = 1
S: (8x + 6x)/48 =1
14x = 48
x = 48/14 or 24/7
I: They can do a job together in 24/7 hours or 3 and 6/7 hours

2. A pipe can fill a tank in 10 hours. Whereas a drain can empty its contents in 15 hours. If I accidentally opened
both the pipe and the drain, how long will it take to fill the tank?
R: In an hour a pipe can fill 1/10 of x time whereas the drain can empty 1/15 of x.
E: (x/10)-(x/15) = 1
S: (6x-4x)/60 = 1
2x = 60
x = 30
I:If both the pipe and drain were opened, it will take 30 hours to fill up

3. Steve can do a Job in 8 hours and Mark can do a job in 6 hours. If Steve did the job alone in 2 hours then helped
by Mark, how long will it take them to finish the remaining job?
R: If Steve did the job alone in 2 hours then we can say that he has finished 2/8 or the job.
E: (1/8 + 1/6)*x = <-(1-1/4); remains because job WAS DONE ALREADY.
S: x/8+x/6 = 3/4
(6x+8x)/48 =
(14x)/12 = 1
14 x = 12
x = 12/14 or 6/7
I: They can finish the remaining job in 6/7 hours.
Work problems usually involve the time for two or more persons or machines to
complete the same job given the rate that they can work.

Work problem:
Ariel can paint a house in 5 days and Ben can do the same job in 6 days. In how many
days can they complete the job if they work together?
Discussion and Scratch Work
If Ariel can finish the job in 5 days, then if he were to work one day, he would
have completed 1/5 of the job. If he works for two days, then he would have completed
2/5 of the job. Similarly, if Ben can finish the same job in 6 days, if he were to work for
one day, then he would have completed 1/6 of the job. If he works for 2 days, he would
have completed 2/6 of the job (or 1/3 of the job if reduced to lowest terms).
Suppose Ariel and Ben work together starting on a Monday. Then their progress can be
described as shown in the table below.

Now, since Ariel can finish the job in 5 days, with Ben working with him even at a
slower rate, the job can be finished less than 5 days (working together makes the
completion shorter!). Looking at their progress in the table below, it is quite clear that
the job can be finished in less than 3 days (can you see why?). Examine the table and
see why this is so.

The Geometric Representation of Working Together

The rates of work of Ariel and Ben can be represented geometrically by comparing
them to a length of a rectangle. The length of the red rectangle (Ariels rate per day) is
1/6 the length the white rectangle, while the length of the blue rectangle (Bens rate per
day) is 1/5 the length of the white rectangle. Since we used the white rectangle as our
unit of measure, its length is equal to 1. In this problem, 1 represents the completed job.

By the end of Monday (see next figure), the combined work done is shown as the
length of the two colored rectangles. So, we can say that the number these pairs that
can fit horizontally into the white rectangle is the number of days that the job will be
completed.
By the end Tuesday, both of them have worked 1/5(2) + 1/6(2) as shown in the figure
below, more than half of the job.
In the next figure, notice that the job can be completed even if Ben work less than his
usual rate. Of course it is also possible to lessen Ariels work or lessen both of their

work.
Since the pair of blue and red rectangle represents one day, this means that the job can
be completed in less than 3 days if they both work together.

The Tabular Representation of Working Together

In the first part of this post, I have mentioned that from the table, it can be seen that the
job can be completed in less than 3 days. Why? Because if you can see, 3/6 is already
half of the job (50%), while 3/5 is more than half (60%). This means that on the third
day, they would have completed 110% of the job. Therefore, the job will take less than
3 days.

The 110% is confirmed by adding the fractions. By the end of the Wednesday, they
would have completed 33/30 which is equal to 110%.

Notice that both the tabular and geometric interpretation only gave us an
approximation. This is why we need Algebra to solve this type of problem.

So, how many days will it take to finish the job if they work together?
The Algebraic Representation of Working Together
We can form the equation using the table above. If they both work for one day, then
they have worked . If they both worked for two days, they have
finished of the job. Since we are looking for the number of days that they
have worked together, which we represent with days, we can form the
expression . And since we are looking for the complete job, we will equate
the expression with 1. That is,

Finalizing the Solution

Now, we have an equation with fractions. As we have learned in solving
equations with fractions, we need to eliminate the denominators. To eliminate the
denominators of the fractions, we multiply everything with the least common
denominator of 1/5 and 1/6 which is 30. That is,

Again this confirms the tabular and geometric representations that the job can be
completed in less than 3 days.

In the next post, we will have more examples.

How to Solve Work Problem Part 2

BY CIVIL SERVICE REVIEWER AUGUST 27, 2014
This is the second part of the Solving Work Problems Series. In the previous post,
we have discussed in detail the concept behind how to solve work problems. In this
post, we are going to learn more examples and solve more complicated problems.
Problem 2
A hose can fill a pool in 3 hours, while a smaller hose can fill it in 5 hours. If the hoses
are opened together the same time, how many hours will they be able to fill the pool?

Solution
House A can fill the pool in 3 hours, so it can fill 1/3 of the pool in 1 hour.

House A can fill the pool in 5 hours, so it can fill 1/5 of the pool in 1 hour.

Together, they can fill 1/3 + 1/5 of the pool in 1 hour.

Let x be the number of hours to fill the pool. As we have done in the previous post,
we set up the following equation (read the previous post for details). That is,

Multiplying both sides by 15, the least common denominator of 1/5 and 1/3, we have

This means that the two hoses will fill the pool in 15/8 or 1 and 7/8 hours.

Problem 3
Chloe and Diane are gown designers in a prestigious company. Chloe and Diane can
embellish a gown in 4 hours. Chloe alone can do the same task in 6 hours. How long
will Diane be able to do the same task if she were to work alone?
Solution
Chloe and Diane can finish the task in 4 hours, so they can finish 1/4 of the task in 1
hour.

Chloe alone can finish the task in 6 hours, so she can finish 1/6 of the task in 1 hour.

Diane can finish the task in x hours, so she can finish 1/x of the task in 1 hour.
Note that if we combine the work of Chloe (1/6) and Diane (1/x), their rate is 1/4 of
the task. That is

We multiply the equation by 24x, the least common denominator of 6, 4, and x, we

have

This means that Diane can finish the task alone in 12 hours.

In the next post, we will have more examples.

How to Solve Work Problems Part 3

BY CIVIL SERVICE REVIEWER AUGUST 30, 2014
This is the third part of the Solving Work Problems Series. The first part of this series
discussed in detail the concept behind work problems and the second part discussed
thebasic work problems and their solutions.
In this post, we discuss two more work problems. The first problem is about two persons
who started to work together and after a while, the other person stopped. The second
problem is about filling a pool whose outlet pipe is left open.

Sample Problem 4
Jack can dig a ditch alone in 5 days, while John alone can do it in 8 days. The two of
them started working together, but after two days, Jack left the job. How many more
days do John need to work to finish the job alone?
Solution
Jack can finish the job in 5 days, so he can finish 1/5 of the job in 1 day.

John can finish the job in 8 days, so he can finish 1/8 of the job in 1 day.

In 1 day, both of them can finish 1/5 + 1/8 of the job.

Since both of them worked for two days, they have worked 2(1/5) + 2(1/8) before
Jack left.
Now, let x be the number of days John need to finish the job, so he needs to work
1/8(x) more days. The whole job is equal to 1, so we form the following equation.

Multiplying both sides by 40, the least common denominator of the three fractions,
we have

.
So, John still needs days or about .

Sample Problem 5
A swimming pool can be filled with water using an inlet pipe in 6 hours. It can be
emptied using an outlet pipe in 8 hours. One day, after emptying the pool, the owner
opened the inlet pipe but forgot to close the outlet pipe. How many hours will it take
to fill the pool with both pipes open?

Solution
The inlet pipe can fill the pool in 6 hours, so it can fill 1/6 of the pool in 1 hour.

The outlet pipe can empty the pool in 8 hours, so it can empty 1/8 of the pool in 1
hour.

If both the inlet and outlet pipes are opened, then in 1 hour the pool is 1/6 filled but
emptied 1/8 of water. So, the remaining water is 1/6 1/8.

Therefore, if we let x be the number of hours, then in x hours, the pool is filled with
.

So, to fill the entire pool, we equate the preceding equation with 1 (can you see
why?).

Multiplying both sides of the equation by 24 which is the least common

denominator of 1/6 and 1/8, we have

Therefore, with both pipes open, the pool can be filled in 24 hours.