I am trying to study for a basic math entrance exam and can not recall how to work out the following question. Here it is:
Three people who work full time are to work together on a project,but their total time on the project is to be equivalent to that of only one person working full time. If one of the people is budgeted for 1/2 of his time to the project and a second person for 1/3 of her time,what part of the third worker's time should be budgeted to this project?
Answers to pick from are:
1. 1/3
2. 3/5
3. 1/6
4. 1/8
Not sure of even remember where to begin to work this problem out.
1/2 + 1/3 = 3/6 + 2/6 = 5/6
1 - 5/6 = 1/6
Heather, I cannot believe you typed the same Math Problem I did. This is surely fate. I am studying for a College Placement Test for Del Tech. I'll be checking for an answer so that we can finally get the answer. Good luck to you and God Bless
To solve this problem, we can start by assigning variables to represent the amount of time each person spends on the project. Let's say the first person spends x amount of time, the second person spends y amount of time, and the third person spends z amount of time.
Given that the first person is budgeted for 1/2 of his time and the second person is budgeted for 1/3 of her time, we can set up equations to represent this information:
x = 1/2
y = 1/3
Since the total time on the project is to be equivalent to that of only one person working full time, we can add the three variables together and set it equal to 1:
x + y + z = 1
Now we can substitute the values of x and y from the equations earlier:
1/2 + 1/3 + z = 1
To simplify this equation, we need to find a common denominator for the fractions:
3/6 + 2/6 + z = 1
Combining the fractions:
5/6 + z = 1
To solve for z, we need to isolate it on one side of the equation. We can do this by subtracting 5/6 from both sides:
z = 1 - 5/6
Simplifying the right side:
z = 6/6 - 5/6
z = 1/6
Therefore, the third person's time that should be budgeted to the project is 1/6. So the correct answer is option 3: 1/6.