If Jim and Jerry work together they can finish a job in 4 hours. If working alone takes Jim 10 hours to finish the job, how many hours would it take Jerry to do the job alone?

Let's solve this problem step by step:

Step 1: We know that Jim and Jerry together can finish the job in 4 hours. This means their combined work rate is 1 job per 4 hours, or 1/4 of the job per hour.

Step 2: We also know that Jim alone can finish the job in 10 hours. This means Jim's work rate is 1 job per 10 hours, or 1/10 of the job per hour.

Step 3: To find out Jerry's work rate, we subtract Jim's work rate from their combined work rate. So, Jerry's work rate is (1/4 - 1/10) = 0.15 jobs per hour.

Step 4: To find out how long it would take Jerry to finish the job alone, we divide 1 job by Jerry's work rate. So, it would take Jerry (1 / 0.15) = approximately 6.67 hours to finish the job alone.

Sure, let's solve this problem step by step.

1. First, we need to understand that the rate of work done is inversely proportional to the time taken to complete the work. So, if Jim and Jerry together can finish the job in 4 hours, their combined work rate is 1 job per 4 hours, or 1/4 of the job per hour.

2. Similarly, if Jim alone can finish the job in 10 hours, his work rate is 1 job per 10 hours, or 1/10 of the job per hour.

3. Now, we can find Jerry's work rate by subtracting Jim's work rate from their combined work rate. So, Jerry's work rate is (1/4 - 1/10) = 0.15 jobs per hour.

4. Finally, to find out how long it would take Jerry to do the job alone, we divide the total job (1) by Jerry's work rate. So, Jerry alone would take 1 / 0.15 = approximately 6.67 hours to finish the job.