Problema Solution
Working together, Bill and Tom painted a fence in 8 hours. If Tom has painted the same fence before by himself in 19 hours, how long (in hours) would it take Bill on his own? (Round your answer to one decimal place.)
Answer provided by our tutors
In 1 hour Bill and Tom will paint 1/8 of the fence.
In 1 hour Tom will paint 1/19 of the fence.
Let 'x' represent the number of hours Bill needs to paint the fence alone.
In 1 hour Bill will paint 1/x of the fence.
Now we can write the following equation:
1/19 + 1/x = 1/8
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click here to see the equation solved for x
........
x = 13.8 hr
Bill needs 13.8 hours to paint the fence alone.