Problem: Team Work

08Oct08

Here’s a classic problem: If  people can each complete a task in times , where , how long will it take if all people work on the task simultaneously? Show that this time is less than all of their individual times, as expected.

(Here’s a specific case, with , hour, and  hours: A painter can paint a room in 1 hour and another can paint the same room in 2 hours. How long will it take if they paint the room simultaneously? Both of the painters will paint less than the entire room, so the time it takes should be less than both of their individual times, or less than 1 hour.)

Filed under: Academics, Mathematics   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: Math, Problem