There are two machines that produce aluminum cans. The newer machine can produce 5100 ...

Question

There are two machines that produce aluminum cans. The newer machine can produce 5100 cans in 170 minutes. It takes the older machine 255 minutes to produce that many cans. If the two machines work together, how long will it take them to produce 5100 cans?

Answer 1

1.  Figure out the rate of cans/minute for each machine

newer machine = 5100/170 = 30 cans/minute
older machine = 5100/255 = 20 cans/minute

2.  Add the rates together to determine their combined rate of cans/minute

together 20 + 30 = 50 cans per minute

 

3.  Divide that rate by the total number of cans
5100/50 = 102 minutes to produce 5100 cans