Ratio:Ratio

   Maths can be easy once you know the rules.
"Are you kidding?!" you might say. But the thing is once you figure out what method to apply math actually becomes enjoyable!
   Occasionally there are sums that you just can't seem to find the answer to! You sit there, stuck, racking your brains trying to solve it while your patience slowly evaporates. Your book becomes messier by the second with all the repeated rubbing and writing and slashing and cancelling. You either stare blankly or glare so hard at the book it might just start sizzling! That's what happened to me recently while I was revising. This sum is the reason I wrote this post:

" Three bricklayers build a wall in 6 hours. I 2 bricklayers build the same wall at the same rate, how long would they take? "

To some it might seem simple. I hae done the same type of sum before but I just forgot how to. Like I said, you might consider this as easy as 'ABC', or rather '123', and go, " THIS is what made you go into such a huff?? " Well, I believe that some math problems are hard for certain people while easy for others and vice versa.
   So, back to the sum. What some would normally do, if following the basic rules of ratio, is this:

" Let the time taken for 2 bricklayers be x hours, then
   xhrs : 6hrs = 2 : 3
   x/6 = 2/3
   x = 2/3 * 6 = 4 (hrs) "

   But this is wrong because 2 bricklayers should take longer to build the same wall at the same rate than 3 (unless they were humans with super powers). The correct answer would be:

" Each bricklayer builds 1/3 of the wall in 6 hours. So, 1 bricklayer would take 3*6 hours = 18 hours, to build the wall by himself. If 2 were to build it it would take:
 1/2 * 18 hours = 9 hours "

Now, if I were to divide a bar of chocolate for me, myself and I...how much would each get? ;)



Random quote: "Life is a series of choices and consequences."
                                                                                       - Anonymous