Problem 19

Elizabeth can get a certain job done in 15 days, and Tony can finish only 75% of that job within the same time. Tony
worked alone for several days and then Elizabeth joined him, so they finished the rest of the job in 6 days, working
together.
For how many days have each of them worked and what percentage of the job have each of them completed?
Solution:
First we will find the daily productivity of every worker. If we consider the whole job as unit (1), Elizabeth
does 115 of the job per day and Tony does 75% of 115, i.e. 
75100⋅115=120. Suppose that Tony worked alone for x days. Then he finished x20 of the total job alone. Working
together for 6 days, the two workers finished 6⋅(115+120)=6⋅760=710 of the job.
The sum of x20 and 710 gives us the whole job, i.e. 1. So we get the equation:
x20+710=1
x20=310
x=6. Tony worked for 6+6=12 days and Elizabeth worked for 6 days. The part of job done
is 12⋅120=60100=60% for Tony, and 6⋅115=40100=40% for Elizabeth.
Problem 20
A farmer planned to plough a field by doing 120 hectares a day. After two days of work he increased his daily
productivity by 25% and he finished the job two days ahead of schedule.
a) What is the area of the field?
b) In how many days did the farmer get the job done?
c) In how many days did the farmer plan to get the job done?
Solution:
First of all we will find the new daily productivity of the farmer in hectares per day: 25% of 120hectares
is 25100⋅120=30 hectares, therefore 120+30=150 hectares is the new daily productivity. Lets x be the planned
number of days allotted for the job. Then the farm is 120⋅xhectares. On the other hand, we get the same area if we
add 120⋅2 hectares to 150(x−4)hectares. Then we get the equation 
120x=120⋅2+150(x−4)
x=12
So, the job was initially supposed to take 12 days, but actually the field was ploughed in 12 - 2 =10 days. The field's
area is 120⋅12=1440 hectares.
Problem 21
To mow a grass field a team of mowers planned to cover 15 hectares a day. After 4 working days they increased the
daily productivity by 33×13%, and finished the work 1 day earlier than it was planned. 
A) What is the area of the grass field?
B) How many days did it take to mow the whole field?
C) How many days were scheduled initially for this job?
Hint: See problem 20 and solve by yourself.
Answer: A) 120 hectares; B) 7 days; C) 8 days.
Problem 22
A train travels from station A to station B. If the train leaves station A and makes 75 km/hr, it arrives at station
B 48 minutes ahead of scheduled. If it made 50 km/hr, then by the scheduled time of arrival it would still
have 40 km more to go to station B. Find:
A) The distance between the two stations;
B) The time it takes the train to travel from A to B according to the schedule;
C) The speed of the train when it's on schedule.
Solution:
Let x be the scheduled time for the trip from A to B. Then the distance between A and B can be found in two ways.
On one hand, this distance equals 75(x−4860) km. On the other hand, it is 50x+40 km. So we get the equation:
75(x−4860)=50x+40
x=4 hr is the scheduled travel time. The distance between the two stations is 50⋅4+40=240km. Then the speed
the train must keep to be on schedule is 2404=60 km/hr.