C.2 Work done by two persons

To finish a certain work, it will take 12 days by Taro and 15 days by Jiro. 

Taro and Jiro jointly started to finish the work but Jiro rested a number of days. 

It took 8 days to finish the work. 

How many days did Jiro rest ?







Answer
3 days

Solution
The volume of this work is set to 1. 

The daily work load of Taro is 1/12 and Jiro is 1/15. 

For two persons, total daily work load is 1/12 + 1/15 = 3/20. 

Since the work load at the time of working for eight days by two persons is set to 3 / 20 × 8 = 6/5. 

The difference between 1 and 6/5 comes to the work load Jiro rested. 

1 - 6/5 = 1/5

It is (1/5) /(1/15) = 3 days that Jiro rested.