Please help me with these 2 word problems

Question

In 2005, 14.5 out of every 50 employees at a company were women. If there are 46,139 total company employees, estimate the number of women.

 

Also, another problem I have that I can't figure out is.

 

Three postal workers can sort a stack of mail in 10 minutes, 30 minutes, and 30 minutes, respectively. Find how long it takes them to sort the mail if all three work together.

Answer 1

46139 * 14.5 / 50 = 13380.31, or about 13380 women

 

If we think about it as one stack = 60 blocks, then

Worker A finishes 60 in 10 minutes, or 6 blocks a minute

Workers B and C finish 60 blocks in 30 minutes, or 2 blocks a minute

 

So every minute is 6 + 2 + 2, or 10 blocks completed per minute.

 

60 / 10 = 6

So they will finish in six minutes.