TIME AND WORK

Time & Work Basic Question Solving - 11 July 2014

1. X is twice good a workman as Y and together they finish a piece of work in 18 days. In how
many days will X alone finish the work ?
Solution - According to the condition given if X is twice good a workman as Y then the time
taken by X to finish a particular work would be half of the time taken by Y to finish the same
work.
So if we suppose that Y takes 2k days to finish a work then X would take k days to finish the
same work.
Solving, 1/(2k) + 1/(k) = 1/18
k = 27 days
Answer - X would finish the work in 27 days.
2. If 10 men complete a work in 12 days. How many days would be taken by 18 men to
complete the same work ?
Solution - Suppose the time taken by 18 men to complete the same work is t days.
Using the concept of Mandays 10*12 = 18*t
t = 20/3 days
Answer - 18 men would take 20/3 days to complete the same work.
3. If 100 men can do 100 jobs in 100 days, 1 men can do one job in how many days ?
Solution - Using the concept M*D = W
(100*100)/(1*D) = 100/1
Solving we get D = 100 days
Answer - 1 men can do one job in 100 days.
4. 1 man or 2 boys or 3 girls can do a piece of work in 121 days. In how many days can one
man, one girl and one boy do the same work ?
Solution - Let one man does m units of work in 1 day.
Let one boy does b units of work in 1 day.
Let one girl does g units of work in 1 day.

So 1m*121 = 2b*121 = 3g*121 = W, where W is the total units of work.

m = W/121 , b= W/242 , g = W/ 363
So 1 man, 1 girl and 1 boy can do the same work in (W) / ((W/121) + (W/242) + (W/363)) = 66
Answer - So 1 man, 1 girl and 1 boy can do the same work in 66 days.
5. If the ratio of work efficiency of P & Q is 6:5 and that of Q & R is 6:5. If P can complete the
piece of work in 2 days, In how many days the same work can be completed by Q & R
separately ?
Solution - If the work efficiency of P & Q is 6:5 then time taken would be in the ratio 5:6
If the work efficiency of Q & R is 6:5 then time taken would be in the ratio 5:6
Let the time taken by P = 5K and by Q = 6K, where K is some constant.
5K = 2, So 6K = 12/5 Days
So the time taken by Q to complete the work is 12/5 days
Now let the time taken by Q = 5X and by R = 6X, where X is some constant.
Q = 12/5 days, So R = 72/25 days
Answer - So the time taken by R to complete the work is 72/25 days.
1. If a man A completes a work in 10 days & man B complete the same work in 15 days. In how
many days the work is completed if they work together ?
2. If X & Y completed a work together in 6 days. If X completed the same work in 10 days
alone. Then in how many days will Y complete the same work alone ?
3. If a particular work is completed by A,B,C in 10, 15 and 12 days respectively. In how many
days will the work be completed if all of them work together ?
4. If A & B can complete a piece of work in 12 days, B & C can do the same work in 15 days
and A & C can do the same work in 20 days. In how many days will A,B and C will finish the
work together?
5. X can do a piece of work in 10 days and Y in 15 days. Y starts doing the work on his own
and after working for 3 days he left. Now the work is to be completed X alone. What is the total
amount of days required to finish the respective work.

Time & Work Level 3 Practice Questions for CAT - 11 July

2014
Ques 1. Mahesh takes twice the time taken by Ramesh to complete a job. Ramesh takes twice
the time taken by Suresh to complete the job. Suresh takes twice the time taken by Naresh to
complete the job. Two of the four when working together take 50% less of the time taken by
the other two together to complete the job. Find these two.
Solution - Let the time taken by Naresh to complete the job is t days.
Then the time taken by Suresh to complete the job is 2t days.
Then the time taken by Ramesh to complete the job is 4t days.
Then the time taken by Mahesh to complete the job is 8t days.
Time taken by Naresh & Ramesh to complete the job would be 1/((1/t) + (1/4t)) = 4t/5 days
Time taken by Mahesh & Suresh to complete the job would be 1/((1/8t) + (1/2t)) = 8t/5 days
Answer - Naresh and Ramesh
Ques 2. Alok takes m times the time taken by Bola and Chetan to complete a job. Bola takes m
times the time taken by Alok and Chetan to complete the job. Chetan takes m times the time
takes by Alok and Bola to complete the job. Find m.
Solution - Let the time taken by Alok to complete the job is a days.

Let the time taken by Bola to complete the job is b days.

Let the time taken by Chetan to complete the job is c days.
So according to first condition (1/b) + (1/c) = m/a

Equation 1

So according to second condition (1/a) + (1/b) = m/c

Equation 2

So according to third condition (1/a) + (1/c) = m/b

Equation 3

Adding (Equation 1, Equation 2 & Equation 3) and solving we get,

Answer is m = 2
Ques 3. Two men, three women and three boys can complete a job in 20 days. Four men and
nine women can complete the same job in 10 days. Find the ratio of the time taken by a
woman and a boy to complete the job.
Solution - Let the unit of work done by 1 man in 1 day is m units.
Let the unit of work done by 1 woman in 1 day is w units.
Let the unit of work done by 1 boy in 1 day is b units.
So the units of work completed by two men, 3 women and 3 boys in 20 days would be =
(2m+3w+3b)20 and the units of work completed by four men and nine women in 10 days would
be = (4m+9w)10.
As the work done in both the cases is equal (2m+3w+3b)20 = (4m+9w)10
60b = 30w
w/b = 60/30 = 2
Answer - As the ratio of the efficiency of a woman and a boy is 2/1 therefore the ratio of the
time taken by them to complete the same work is 2.
Ques 4. Sixty men can do a piece of work in 10 days. The same work is now done in the
following manner. On the first day one man starts the work and from the second day onwards
one more man joins the group on each day. If the work is completed in this fashion, in how
many days will the work be completed?
Solution - Let 1 man do 1 unit of work in one day.

So 60 man in ten days would do 60*10*1 = 600 units of work.

On first day units of work completed is 1
On second day units of work completed is 2
On third day units of work completed is 3 and so on......
So in the first 34 days the work completed would be = 1+2+3+4+5..................34 = 34*35/2 = 595
units of work.
The remaining 5 units of work would be completed on the 35th day in 1/7th of the day.
Answer - The work would be completed in 34 1/7 days.