Nicole can weed her vegetable garden in 50 minutes. Glen can weed the same garden in 40 minutes. If they worked together how long would it take?

Question

Nicole can weed her vegetable garden in 50 minutes. Glen can weed the same garden in 40 minutes. If they worked together how long would it take?

Answer 1

If Nicole does the work in 50 minutes then she does 1/50 of the job per minute

If Glen does the job in 40 minutes then he does 1/40 of the job per minute

 

Together they do (1/40 + 1/50) of the job per minute

 

We need to figure out how many minutes to multiply that sum by to equal 100%

 

x(1/40 + 1/50) = 100%

x(1/40 + 1/50) = 1

x(5/200 + 4/200) = 1

x(9/200) = 1

x = 200/9 = 22 2/9 minutes to do the job together