Time & Work

Reading Material

Basic concept:
If one person takes x days to do a work in 1 day he does 1/x of work.
Eg. If A takes 4 days to finish work in 1 day he does ¼ of work.

Formulae :
1. A can do a piece of work in x days and B can do the same in y days then both A&B together
𝑥𝑦
can do it in 𝑥+𝑦
2. If A, B, C can do a piece of work in x, y, z days respectively while working alone, they will
𝑥 𝑦𝑧
together take 𝑥𝑦 + 𝑦𝑧 +𝑧𝑥
days to finish it.

3. A&B can do a piece of work in x days while A alone finish it in y days then B alone can do it in
𝑥𝑦
𝑦−𝑥
days.
4. A & B can do a piece of work in x days , B & C can do the same in y days while C & A can do it
2𝑥𝑦𝑧
in z days. Then all of them(A, B & C) together take 𝑥𝑦 + 𝑦𝑧 +𝑧𝑥
days to finish it. .
5. If A is n times as fast as B , and is therefore able to finish a work in D days less than B.Then the
time which they can do it working together in ( D*n / n2-1 ) days.
6. If X1 men or Y1 women can reap a field in D days, then X2 and Y2 women take to reap it in
[(Days * X1*Y1) / (X2Y1+X1Y2)] days

Chain Rule:
Let us assume
P – No. of persons
H – No. of hours per day
D – No. of days
W – Work done
Then we can say
W α P (T = Constant) i.e. W => P & W => P
W α T (P = Constant/) i.e. W => T & W => T
W α H (P, D = Constant)
W α D (P, H = Constant)
W α PDH
𝑃1 * 𝐷1* 𝐻1 𝑃2 * 𝐷2 * 𝐻2
Then 𝑊1
= 𝑊2
= > P1D1H1W2 = P2D2H2W1
We can solve questions in Time & Work in 2 ways
1) Unitary method :
In this method a fraction of work done by a person in a day is calculated.

2) LCM Method : here total units of work to be done is calculated and we find how many units
each person does in a day.

Depending on the question we can follow any one method

Eg:- A can do work alone in 4 days. B can do the same work alone in 2 days together A & B will
do the work in how many days

Method -1
A -> 1 day -> ¼
B -> 1 day -> ½
A + B -> 1 day -> ½ + ¼ = ¾
Full work done in 4/3 days

Method - 2
Can (4,2) = 4 unit = total work
A -> 1 day -> 1 unit
B -> 1 day -> 2 unit
A + B -> 1 day -> 3 unit
Total work is done in 4/3 days

Pipes & cisterns

Two types of pipes 10 filling pipe (2) emptying pipe/leak
Filling pipe does +ve work
emptying pipe does –ve work
Assume a cistern / tank has an emptying pipe when can empty the tank in x hrs and a filling pipe
which can fill the tank in y hrs
Put together work done by both pipes in 1 hr is (1/x+ 1/y)

Examples:
1. If A can do a work in 20 days and B can do the same work in 30 days, then find the time
required by A and B both working together to complete the work ?
Explanation:A’s one day work = 1/20
B’s one day work = 1/30
One day work ob A and B working together = 1/20 + 1/30
=(3+2)/60
= 1/12
Total number of days required by A and B to complete the work together = 12