Jigsaw

[Dee-M-See]

6 girls and 4 boys do a 2200 piece jigsaw in 4 hours then 2 girls and 5 boys do the same jigsaw in 8 hours who are best at doing the jigsaw boys or girls and by how much

[hobbitess]

Are your figures correct, as I would have thought this is a simultaneous equation?

I can't work it out using your figures, although my brain isn't as good as it used to be!!

[crofter]

With all the usual assumptions and based on the figures given, the girls appear to be working faster by a factor of 7.4 - that is for every 10 pieces a boy fits, a girl will fit 74 pieces.

[crofter]

hobbitess You do need to use simultaneous equations but based on their rate of work. That is let g = number of pieces fitted by a girl in one hour and b = boy's hourly rate.

Now 6g + 4b = 2200/4

and 2g + 5b = 2200/8

are the equations to be solved to give

g = 925/11 and b = 125/11

[hobbitess]

I didn't take the number of pieces into consideration.

I just tried to work it out on the time taken but couldn't do it that way, crofter!

It's a long time since I was at school !!