essica, Neil, and Ryan are working together to decorate the school gym for the Winter Wonderland Dance. The following equation can be used to find h, the number of hours it will take them to finish decorating the gym.

h
3
+
h
4
+
h
4
=1
How long will it take Jessica, Neil, and Ryan to decorate the gym?
Write your answer as a whole number or as a fraction or mixed number in lowest terms.
hours

1 answer

To solve the equation

\[ \frac{h}{3} + \frac{h}{4} + \frac{h}{4} = 1, \]

we first need to find a common denominator for the fractions. The denominators are 3 and 4, and the least common multiple of these two numbers is 12.

Next, we will rewrite each fraction with the common denominator of 12:

\[ \frac{h}{3} = \frac{4h}{12}, \quad \frac{h}{4} = \frac{3h}{12}. \]

Substituting these into the equation gives:

\[ \frac{4h}{12} + \frac{3h}{12} + \frac{3h}{12} = 1. \]

Now, combine the fractions on the left side:

\[ \frac{4h + 3h + 3h}{12} = 1 \ \frac{10h}{12} = 1. \]

To simplify \(\frac{10h}{12}\), divide the numerator and the denominator by their greatest common divisor, which is 2:

\[ \frac{5h}{6} = 1. \]

Now, multiply both sides of the equation by 6 to eliminate the fraction:

\[ 5h = 6. \]

Next, divide both sides by 5 to solve for \(h\):

\[ h = \frac{6}{5}. \]

To express this as a mixed number, we can convert \(\frac{6}{5}\) to 1 and \(\frac{1}{5}\). Thus,

\[ h = 1 \frac{1}{5}. \]

So, the time it will take Jessica, Neil, and Ryan to decorate the gym is

\[ \frac{6}{5} \text{ hours} \quad \text{or} \quad 1 \frac{1}{5} \text{ hours}. \]

In its simplest form, the solution is

\(\frac{6}{5}\) hours.