Help solving a work problem a job takes 4 hour for 2 people to do....?

A job takes 4 hours for 2 people working together. If one person works alone he can do the job in 6 hours. How long will it take the other person working alone to complete the job?



I thought I was doing it right but I keep coming up with the wrong answer could someone explain it please??Help solving a work problem a job takes 4 hour for 2 people to do....?
The 2 people together do 1/2 a job per hour.

The person given does 1/6 of a job per hour.

By subtraction, the other person does 1/3 of a job per hour.

So this person takes 3 hours working alone to complete the job.



Sorry, stupid mistake - go with the mathemagicians answer

and Coenie has no ideaHelp solving a work problem a job takes 4 hour for 2 people to do....?
explain how you were doing it.
If it takes two people 4 hours to do the job, then they complete 1/4 of the job in one hour working together.



If one person can do the job in 6 hours, then that person does 1/6 of the job in one hour.



The other person must complete [(1/4) - (1/6)] of the job in one hour



The other person must do 1/12 of the job in one hour. Working alone, the other person would take 12 hours.



QED



Show your work to understand your mistake.
Using average:



1 person takes 6 hours

1 person takes 2 hours



2 people take 4 hours ((6+2)/2=4)
1/6 + 1/x = 1/4



2x/12 + 12/12x = 3x/12x



2x + 12= 3x



x = 12



12 hours
Let x be how much work the other person can do

in one hour, then

x+1/6=1/4=%26gt;

x=1/4-1/6=%26gt;

x=1/12

So, the other person can complete the job

alone in 12 hours.