Melanie can paint a 100 square foot wall in 4 hours. James can paint the same area in 3 hours. If they both paint nonstop for 6 hours, about how many square feet can Melanie and James paint together?
Start with Melanie. She can paint 100 square feet in four hours. So in 6 hours, she can paint 150 square feet. This is because she is painting a total of 6 hours. In 4 hours, she did 100 square feet. 6-4 = 2 hours left.
Those 2 hours are HALF of the 4 hours.
So in 2 hours, she can paint HALF of the 100 square feet.
100/2 = 50 more square feet.
So Melanie can paint 150 square feet in that time. Can you figure out how much James can paint? Then add them together?
To solve this problem, we can first find out how much each person can paint in one hour and then calculate how much they can paint together in 6 hours.
Given:
- Melanie can paint a 100 square foot wall in 4 hours.
- James can paint the same area in 3 hours.
First, let's find out how much each person can paint in one hour.
Melanie's painting rate: 100 square feet / 4 hours = 25 square feet per hour.
James's painting rate: 100 square feet / 3 hours = 33.33 square feet per hour (approximately).
Now, we can calculate how much they can paint together in 6 hours.
Melanie's painting rate in 6 hours: 25 square feet/hour * 6 hours = 150 square feet.
James's painting rate in 6 hours: 33.33 square feet/hour * 6 hours = 200 square feet (approximately).
So, Melanie and James can paint approximately 150 + 200 = 350 square feet together in 6 hours.
To find out how many square feet Melanie can paint in 1 hour, we can divide the total area she can paint (100 square feet) by the total time it takes her to paint that area (4 hours).
So, Melanie can paint 100 square feet / 4 hours = 25 square feet per hour.
Similarly, James can paint 100 square feet / 3 hours = 33.33 (approximately) square feet per hour.
Now that we know the rates at which Melanie and James can paint per hour, we can calculate how many square feet they can paint together in 6 hours.
Melanie can paint 25 square feet/hour x 6 hours = 150 square feet.
James can paint 33.33 square feet/hour x 6 hours = 200 square feet (approximately).
Therefore, Melanie and James can paint together about 150 square feet + 200 square feet = 350 square feet.