Dear Reader, Below are three sample questions from work & time.

Question 1

“Hunterkey” a leading software company situate in China was started in the year 1988. The company had been progressing well since inception and the company has achieved a turn over of over 10 billion $. The management of the company has plans for achieving greater heights in terms of turnover and has been training its members in various skills such as technical skills, soft skills, programming skills etc. 60 programmers of the company write 60 lines of programs in 60 minutes totally. How long will it take for 84 programmers to write 84 lines of programs?

a) 84 min. b) 48 min c)60 min d) 72 min

Answer : c) 60 min.

Solution:

For problems like this where efficiency of the programmers/workers are assumed constant implicitly, you can apply the below formula
P1 X M1 / L1 = P2 X M2 / L2
Here, P1,M1 and L1 are number of programmers, number of minutes and number of lines respectively in case I
And, P2,M2 and L2 are number of programmers, number of minutes and number of lines respectively in case II.
Given P1 = 60, M1 = 60, L1 = 60, P2 = 84, L2 = 84.
Substituting in above formula we get.
60 x 60 / 60 = 84 x M2 / 84.
Simplifying we get, M2 = 60 minutes.

Question 2

“Universal Software Inc.” USA is situated in California. The company was started in the year 1975 and has been progressing extremely well. It is aiming to reach the topmost position in the near future. During the year 2010, in a team, on any particular day, 48 programmers of the company were able to write 48 lines of software programs in 48 minutes. The company recruits 72 more programmers. Also the team management improves the throughput by making them to work for 72 more minutes every day. What will be the increase of the number of lines of code possible now ?

a) 300 lines b)252 lines c)48 lines d) 48 lines

Answer : b) 252 lines

Solution :

Using the same formula as in first question :
P1 X M1 / L1 = P2 X M2 / L2
Given, P1 = 48, M1 = 48 and L1 = 48
Given P2 = P1 + 72 = 48 + 72 = 120
Given M2 = M1 + 72 = 48 + 72 = 120
Substituting values in formula we get,
48 x 48 / 48 = 120 x 120 / L2
Simplifying we get L2 = 300
Increase in number of lines of code = L2 - L1 = 300 - 48 = 252

Question 3

“Extremely fast solutions” a software programmer provider has been training its manpower in such a way that 36 programmers could write 36 software programs of similar nature in 36 hours. The company has received an order for getting 84 software programs of similar nature in 24 hours. How many additional programmers should the company employ for this project?

a) 90 b)42 c)66 d)44

Answer : a) 90

Solution :

Using the same formula as in first question (Note : M1 and M2 denote time in hours and not minutes. Left hand side and Right hand side should have same units and thats the deal.)
P1 X M1 / L1 = P2 X M2 / L2
Given P1 = 36, M1 = 36, L1 = 36.
Given L2 = 84, M2 = 24
Substituting we get,
36 x 36 / 36 = P2 x 24 / 84
Or P2 = 36 x 84 / 24 = 126
Number of additional programmers = P2 - P1 = 126 - 36 = 90.