jmc

Question

The workers in a factory produce widgets and whoosits. For each product, production time is constant and identical for all workers, but not necessarily equal for the two products. In one hour, 100 workers can produce 300 widgets and 200 whoosits. In two hours, 60 workers can produce 240 widgets and 300 whoosits. In three hours, 50 workers can produce 150 widgets and m whoosits. Find m.

Accepted Answer

The fact that 60 workers produce 240 widgets and 300 whoosits in two hours implies that 100 workers produce 400 widgets and 500 whoosits in two hours, or 200 widgets and 250 whoosits in one hour. Let a be the time required for a worker to produce a widget, and let b be the time required for a worker to produce a whoosit. Then 300a + 200b = 200a + 250b, which is equivalent to b = 2a. In three hours, 50 workers produce 300 widgets and 375 whoosits, so 150a + mb = 300a + 375b and 150a + 2ma = 300a + 750a. Solving the last equation yields m = 450.