Question

John, Rick, and Molly can paint a room working together in five hours alone Molly can paint the room in 14 hours if Rick works alone, he can pay the room in 10 hours. Write the equation comparing the group right to the sum of the individual rates then sign out how long it will take John to paint the room if working alone.

Answer 1

Let x be the number of hours it takes John to paint the room alone.

From the given information:

John + Rick + Molly = 1/5 (their combined rate)

1/x + 1/10 + 1/14 = 1/5

Solving the equation:

1/x + 1/10 + 1/14 = 1/5
1/x = 1/5 - 1/10 - 1/14
1/x = 14/70 - 7/70 - 5/70
1/x = 2/70
x = 35

It will take John 35 hours to paint the room alone.