Setting up Rational Equation Story problems

[TMoney3]

An experienced accountant can balance the books twice as fast as a new accountant. Working together it takes the accountants 6 hours. How long would it take the experienced accountant working alone?


Need some help just setting this problem up. I got down the cross multiply and have solved the rest of the story problems for my homework just having a few problems with this

Thanks

[Honeysuckle588]

How formal does your teacher require it to be? In this case, the experienced accountant needs to do all his work (6 hours) and then do the new accountants work. The new accountant took 6 hours to do his part of the job, but the experienced accountant works twice as fast. How long would he need to get the new accountant's work done?

[jordierocks94]

I need a lot of practice with word problems. I can learn to turn problems around, backwards and forwards, but I need to practice this a lot. Any additional resources online for struggling students would be appreciated.

Just for practice I took on this problem and couldn't come up with an equation to represent the time it would take the experienced a/c working alone. All I could see was: x = new a/c and 2x = the experienced a/c; together their work represents 6 hours time or
x + 2x = 6. But that is not what the question is about. The question is about how long would the experienced a/c work --

Would that be 6 - 2x = 0 ...

What I need to learn is how to think about these questions in a mathematical way ... my natural thought processes are the opposite
(intuitive), but I know I can learn ... I just need repetition, repetition ad infinitum ... Thanks!

[stapel_eliz]

I need a lot of practice with word problems.... Any additional resources online for struggling students would be appreciated.

To learn the general method for setting up and solving this sort of exercise, try here.

Then a good start to this particular exercise might be to clearly define the value for which "x" stands. If you are setting the sum of x and 2x equal to 6, then x must stand for "hours". Was this what you meant? If so, why does the experienced installer take twice as long as the new guy?