A person can complete a job in days. He works alone on Day . On Day , he is joined by another person who also can complete the job in exactly days. On Day , they are joined by another person of equal efficiency. Like this, everyday a new person with the same efficiency joins the work. How many days are required to complete the job?
A person can complete a job in days. He works alone on Day . On Day , he is joined by another person who also can complete the job in exactly days. On Day , they are joined by another person of equal efficiency. Like this, everyday a new person with the same efficiency joins the work. How many days are required to complete the job?
Entered answer:
Solution
Let us start by understanding what's happening here. We have a person who can complete a job in 120 days. This means his work rate is of the job per day.
Day 1: 1 person works
Day 2: 2 people work (original + 1 new)
Day 3: 3 people work (original + 2 new)
And so on...
Since all workers have the same efficiency, each person completes of the job per day.
Key Insight: The total work done must equal 1 complete job.
Let us say the job gets completed in n days. Here is the work done each day:
Day 1: 1 person × = of the job
Day 2: 2 people × = of the job
Day 3: 3 people × = of the job
...
Day n: n people × = of the job
Total work done = Sum of all daily work
Factor out :
The sum of first n natural numbers is
So:
We need to find two numbers that multiply to give -240 and add to give +1.
What two numbers multiply to 240? Let us try 15 and 16:
15 × 16 = 240
Since we need +1 as the coefficient of n, we need: +16 and -15
This gives us: n = -16 or n = 15
Since the number of days must be positive, n = 15.
Therefore, it takes 15 days to complete the job.