Time & Work — Think in '1-Day Work'

The unitary trick: turn 'days' into 'work per day', add them up, and Time & Work becomes easy.

By the PadhoDost Team · 📖 6 min read · Updated 4 August 2026

Part of SSC CGL & Banking prep

🧠 Eating a pizza

If you finish a pizza in 4 days, you eat ¼ of it each day. Work is the same: if A finishes a job in 10 days, A does 1/10 of it per day. This '1-day work' idea unlocks everything.

The core idea

1 day's work = 1 ÷ (days to finish alone)

When people work together, just ADD their 1-day works. If A does 1/6 per day and B does 1/12 per day, together they do 1/6 + 1/12 = 1/4 per day — so they finish in 4 days.

📝 A finishes in 6 days, B in 12 days. Together?

A's 1-day work = 1/6

B's 1-day work = 1/12

Together = 1/6 + 1/12 = 3/12 = 1/4 per day

Time together = 4 days

💡 More workers → less time (inverse). Double the men and the same work takes half the time.

⚡ Quick check

A is twice as efficient as B. If B alone takes 12 days, how long does A take?

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