Word Problem Wednesday: Math Just Keeps On Slaying

School is back in session this week! Along with it, homework for different classes, not just math. How are you going to figure out approximately how long your homework will take you to complete? It's important to know so that you can take some time for extracurricular activities. Xander has similar homework problems, although his extracurricular activities usually include running from vampires Buffy is hunting...

Question: Xander has homework from 5 different classes: English, History, Math, Science, and Spanish. Each homework assignment is 5 pages long. Each page has 5 questions. Each question takes 5 minutes to answer (provided he doesn't get interrupted by a vampire Buffy is hunting or a spell Willow is trying to master). How long will it take Xander to finish his homework? Give your answer in hours and minutes.

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Answer: 10 hours and 25 minutes

Solution: Xander has 5 × 5 = 25 pages of homework. Since there are 5 questions per page, he has 25 × 5 = 125 questions to answer. Since each question takes 5 minutes, his homework will take him 125 × 5 = 625 minutes in total. Since an hour is 60 minutes, we divide 625 by 60 and get 10 hours and 25 minutes.

Hmmm, sounds like he's going to have to learn to do homework while running. Or hiding.

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