Welcome to Westonci.ca, the place where your questions are answered by a community of knowledgeable contributors. Connect with a community of experts ready to provide precise solutions to your questions quickly and accurately. Explore comprehensive solutions to your questions from knowledgeable professionals across various fields on our platform.

Bill can hammer 20 nails in 6 minutes. Jeff can do the same job in only 5 minutes . How long will it take them to finish if Bill hammers the first 5 nails, then Jeff hammers for 3 minutes then Bill finishes the job?
A. 4.6 minutes
B. 5.0 minutes
C. 5.4 minutes
D. 5.8 minutes
E. 6.0 minutes

Sagot :

AL2006
Bill hammers 20 nails in 6 minutes.
==> It takes him 6/20 = 0.3 minutes to hammer one nail.
==> If the total job is 20 nails, then he does 1/6 of the job in 1 minute.

Jeff hammers 20 nails in 5 minutes.
==> It takes him 5/20 = 0.25 minutes to hammer one nail.
==> If the total job is 20 nails, then he does 1/5 of the job in 1 minute.

Notice that the question doesn't say what size job they're assigned.
I'll assume it's a 20-nail job.

First step: Bill hammers 5 nails.
At 0.3 minutes per nail, that takes Bill 5 x 0.3 = 1.5 minutes

Second step:  Jeff hammers for 3 minutes.
At 0.25 minute per nail, he adds 3/0.25 = 12 nails to Bill's 5, for a total of 17 so far.

Third step:  Bill finishes the job.
There are (20 - 17) = 3 nails left to go.
At 0.3 minutes per nail, this takes Bill 3 x 0.3 = 0.9 minutes.

First step . . . . .  1.5 minutes
Second step . . . 3    minutes
Third step . . . . . 0.9 minutes
Total . . . . . . . . . 5.4 minutes