"Published in Newark, California, USA"
Oscar estimates that he and Eddie can finish painting their house in 6 days. After painting together in 4 days, Oscar got sick and Eddie had to continue the work alone. It took Eddie 5 more days to finish the job. How many days would it have taken him to paint the whole house alone?
Solution:
The given word problem is about work problem which is painting the house. If there are many people working in a certain job, then they can finished it in lesser time and if there are less people working in a certain job, then they can finished it in longer time. Let's analyze the word problem as follows:
Let x = be the number of days needed by Oscar to finish the painting alone
y = be the number of days needed by Eddie to finish the painting alone
If the first statement says, " Oscar estimates that he and Eddie can finish painting their house in 6 days.", then the working equation will be
If the second statement says, "After painting together in 4 days, Oscar got sick and Eddie had to continue the work alone. It took Eddie 5 more days to finish the job.", then the working equation will be
Next, solve for the values of x and y using the system of solving two equations two unknowns as follows
Multiply the first equation by 2 and -3 at the second equation, we have
Add the two equations and x will be eliminated
Therefore, Eddie would have finished painting the house, alone, in 15 days.