Mar 092009

Every Sunday, Mary mows her lawn. It takes her 4 hours to finish mowing is she is working alone. This Sunday, however, Mary's friend Dominic said that he's help her. If together, they are able to mow the lawn in 2 hours and 24 minutes, how long would it take dominic to mow the lawn by himself?

It would take him 5 hours. Mary can do 25% of the lawn every hour. Dominic *we don't know yet. If I guess 5 hours that means he can do 20% every hour. Together they will do 45% in an hour. So 90% in two hours and 100% in 2.4 hours which is 2 hours and 24 minutes.

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10 Comments to “Can Someone Show Me How to Figure Out This Math Puzzle?”

  1. I<3 the RAVENS says:

    4 hr and 48 minutes

    .
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  2. stellajinx96 says:

    4 hours and 24 minutes. I hope that helps!!
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  3. CT says:

    4 hours
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  4. danity56 says:

    2.24X2= 4 hours and 48 minutes. I hope I'm right.
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  5. rui h says:

    4 hours 48 minutes by herself
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  6. Thirdeye says:

    4 hours. Nothing suggests she works at a different rate when Dominic helps.
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  7. Caro M says:

    how is he helping her? does he bring his own lawnmower over or is he just using hers? i'm confused.
    do they both push on the same mower?
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  8. Nelson_DeVon says:

    It would take him 5 hours. Mary can do 25% of the lawn every hour. Dominic *we don't know yet. If I guess 5 hours that means he can do 20% every hour. Together they will do 45% in an hour. So 90% in two hours and 100% in 2.4 hours which is 2 hours and 24 minutes.
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  9. Kelsie Bee says:

    Well the question is how fast does HE work when he's alone not HER. WE already know that she mows the lawn in 4 hours. if he mowed the lawn in 4 hours when he was alone then together they'd mow it in 2 hours. It gets confusing because when they're together they get it done in 2 hours and 24 minutes…

    ok so now I've explained why everyone else is wrong I'm stuck. I don't know how to figure it out either. You must have some crazy teacher… and I must have the same one because I have that same problem due friday… :(

    well good luck!

    EDIT: Nevermind… I think ^ that guy might be right… it makes sense after all…
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  10. Spookius Mortem says:

    Mary can mow .25 of the lawn in one hour; so Mary's rate is MR = .25L/1hr where L = 1 Lawn and hr = hours.

    Dominic's rate is DR = xL/1hr, where x is unknown.

    Now (MR + DR)*2.4hr = 1L

    (.25L/1hr + xL/1hr)*2.4hr = 1L

    the hours and lawns cancel, leaving

    (.25 + x)*2.4 = 1

    2.4x + 0.6 = 1

    2.4x = 0.4

    x = 0.167

    Now since Dominic's rate was DR = xL/hr, we can say

    xL/hr * yhr = 1L, where y is the number of hours we are trying to determine.

    0.167L/hr * yhr = 1L

    agian, hours and lawns cancel leaving

    0.167y = 1

    y = 5.99

    It would take Dominic 5.99 hours to mow the lawn by himself.

    Check:

    (.25L/1hr + .167L/1hr)*2.4hr =
    0.417L/hr * 2.4hr =
    0.417L * 2.4 =
    1.008L

    There is trivial error from rounding.
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