Question

A project team had 16 new hires and 9 experienced employees. 4 new hires can do the equivalent work of 3 experienced employees. Management replaced all experienced employees in the project team with the equivalent number of new hires.

What is the total size of the project team now?
23 people


25 people


28 people


19 people

Answer 1

We start with the information provided: there are initially 16 new hires and 9 experienced employees.

Based on the information, we know that:
- 4 new hires can do the equivalent work of 3 experienced employees.
- To find the equivalent number of new hires for the experienced employees, we can set up a ratio.

First, we establish the equivalent work capacity of one experienced employee in terms of new hires:
- 3 experienced employees are equivalent to 4 new hires.
- Thus, 1 experienced employee is equivalent to \( \frac{4}{3} \) new hires.

Now, with 9 experienced employees:
- The equivalent number of new hires for 9 experienced employees would be:
\[ 9 \text{ experienced employees} \times \frac{4 \text{ new hires}}{3 \text{ experienced employees}} = 12 \text{ new hires}. \]

Therefore, if the management replaces all 9 experienced employees with an equivalent number of new hires, they will need 12 additional new hires to replace them.

Now, we calculate the total size of the project team after the replacement:
- Original new hires: 16
- New hires replacing experienced employees: 12

Adding these together gives us:
\[ 16 + 12 = 28. \]

So, the total size of the project team now is **28 people.**