1950 AHSME Problems/Problem 19

Revision as of 22:48, 17 November 2011 by Jli10 (talk | contribs)

Problem

If $m$ men can do a job in $d$ days, then $m+r$ men can do the job in:

$\textbf{(A)}\ d+r \text{ days}\qquad\textbf{(B)}\ d-r\text{ days}\qquad\textbf{(C)}\ \frac{md}{m+r}\text{ days}\qquad\\ \textbf{(D)}\ \frac{d}{m+r}\text{ days}\qquad\textbf{(E)}\ \text{None of these}$

Solution

The number of men is inversely proportional to the number of days the job takes. Thus, if $m$ men can do a job in $d$ days, we have that it will take $md$ days for $1$ man to do the job. Thus, $m + r$ men can do the job in $\frac{md}{m+r}$ days and our is $\textbf{(C)}.$