A Level Maths Question - Proportion

Hello,

I have gotten my account back after I lost my password. I have just received a question on proportion (attached below).

The question does not specify how long the walls are or how many workers there are in total, however I assumed that there are only 2. These are the answers I got:

a) t=6n
b) 2 Workers
c) 20 days.
d) 20 workers
e)The south and West wall

I am not sure if these answers are correct, as I could not use the equation worked out in part a as there is a possibility that the walls are not the same length.

Thanks!

Hello,

I have gotten my account back after I lost my password. I have just received a question on proportion (attached below).

The question does not specify how long the walls are or how many workers there are in total, however I assumed that there are only 2. These are the answers I got:

a) t=6n
b) 2 Workers
c) 20 days.
d) 20 workers
e)The south and West wall

I am not sure if these answers are correct, as I could not use the equation worked out in part a as there is a possibility that the walls are not the same length.

Thanks!

We are told its rectangular ...

I don't agree with a) if n = 1 the wall takes less time ie 6 days

As its rectangular, how can the south and west be the shortest?
As usual, upload your working if you want it checked.

My working was:
Total time = 50 days.
Time taken to build the north wall and South wall = 12+8 = 20
50-20 = 30 days
Time taken to build East and West wall = 30 days
Time taken to build East wall = 2*time taken to build the west wall

E = 2W

2W + W = 30
3W = 30
W = 10
Therefore time taken to build the east wall is 20 days.
The south took the least time (8 days) and the west took 10 days. I am not sure if this is right but it is how I worked it out.

Those times sound about right. So what about the other question parts.
Its easier if you state which question part you're answering when you post work.

Note, Im presuming this isnt the answer to e).

I am stuck on b and d as I am unsure how many workers are present and I am wondering if my answers are right.

Your times for the different walls seem right.
What did you get for a) and how will it relate to b)?

Note a sketch of the problem and annotating with num of people, times, ... would probably help.

I was thinking that the expression for the time taken for each of the walls would be different as the lengths of the walls may be different to that of the North wall so I was thinking the constant of 6 would only apply to the North wall and therefore I cant use it for any of the other walls. Am I able to use this constant for the other walls despite the difference in length?

Firstly, its a rectangle so ....
Also think about what the constant represents and how you calculate it.

Drawing a sketch as per the previous post with information marked on

Agree with that, though e) only asks for the shortest walls.