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Third worker joining a pipe build

Question

Working alone, Alice needs 120120 minutes to build a pipe and Bob needs 100100 minutes. They start one pipe together; after 4040 minutes Charlie joins them, and the three finish 1010 minutes later. How many minutes would Charlie need on his own?

Short answer

120. Measure the job as 600600 units, so Alice does 55 and Bob 66 per minute. In 4040 minutes they make 440440 units; the last 160160 units take 1010 minutes at 1616 per minute, so Charlie adds 55 per minute and alone needs 600/5=120600/5=120 minutes.

Adapted from QuantQuestions.io; question and answer rewritten by SelfMadeQuant.com.

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