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Painting Job

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A painting job can be completed by 8 painters in 33 days. If 24 more painters join the team 5 days after starting work on the job, then how many more days are required to complete the job?
Answer: 7

Solution:

Total effort required by 8 painters for 33 days = 8 × 33 = 264 man-days.

Initial effort by 8 painters for 5 days = 8 × 5 = 40 man-days.

Job still requires 264 − 40 = 224 man-days, and there are 32 painters available to do it.

Additional effort required by 32 painters for 224 man-days = 224 / 32 = 7 days.

Thus, 7 more days are required to complete the painting job.

Alternative Shorter Solution:

8 painters require 33 − 5 = 28 more days to complete the job.
Therefore, 8 + 24 = 32 painters will require 28 × 8 / 32 = 7 more days to complete the job.

Food for thought:

The number of days for the job is inversely proportional to the number of painters. So, is 'number of days × number of painters = constant'?

What assumptions were made to arrive at the solution?
Is something assumed about the output of the painters?

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puzzle : image for paint

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