Sue, an experienced shipping clerk, can fill a certain order in 5 hours. Jim, a new clerk, needs 12 hours to do the same job. Working together, how long will it take them to fill the order?
1/5 + 1/12 = 1/x
Okay, so I got 60/17 = 3.529 hours?
looks good to me.
To determine how long it will take Sue and Jim to fill the order when working together, we can use the concept of "Work Rate" or "Output Rate."
Let's first calculate the work rates for Sue and Jim individually:
Sue's work rate: 1 order / 5 hours = 1/5 orders per hour.
Jim's work rate: 1 order / 12 hours ≈ 1/12 orders per hour.
When working together, their work rates will be added up:
Combined work rate = Sue's work rate + Jim's work rate
Combined work rate = 1/5 + 1/12
Now, we need to find the time it would take for them to complete one order together, which is equivalent to the reciprocal of their combined work rate:
Time = 1 / Combined work rate
To perform the calculation, we need to find a common denominator for 5 and 12, which is 60:
Combined work rate = 12/60 + 5/60
Combined work rate = 17/60
Time = 1 / (17/60)
Time = 60/17
Therefore, Sue and Jim will take approximately 3.53 hours (or 3 hours and 32 minutes) to fill the order together.