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After it snows, it takes Maria and her little sister Anita 
(1)/(2) of an hour to shovel the snow off of the sidewalks on their street. This is 
(2)/(3) of the time it takes Maria to do the same job by herself.
How long does it take Maria do this job by herself?
hours

After it snows, it takes Maria and her little sister Anita 12 \frac{1}{2} of an hour to shovel the snow off of the sidewalks on their street. This is 23 \frac{2}{3} of the time it takes Maria to do the same job by herself.\newlineHow long does it take Maria do this job by herself?\newlinehours

Full solution

Q. After it snows, it takes Maria and her little sister Anita 12 \frac{1}{2} of an hour to shovel the snow off of the sidewalks on their street. This is 23 \frac{2}{3} of the time it takes Maria to do the same job by herself.\newlineHow long does it take Maria do this job by herself?\newlinehours
  1. Set Up Equation: Let's denote the time it takes Maria to shovel the snow by herself as TT hours. According to the problem, Maria and her sister together take 12\frac{1}{2} hour to complete the task, and this time is 23\frac{2}{3} of the time Maria would take by herself. We can set up the following equation to represent this relationship:\newline12\frac{1}{2} hour = 23×T\frac{2}{3} \times T
  2. Isolate T: Now we need to solve for T. To do this, we can divide both sides of the equation by (23)(\frac{2}{3}) to isolate T on one side:\newlineT=1223T = \frac{\frac{1}{2}}{\frac{2}{3}}
  3. Divide Fractions: To divide fractions, we multiply by the reciprocal of the divisor. The reciprocal of (23)(\frac{2}{3}) is (32)(\frac{3}{2}), so we multiply (12)(\frac{1}{2}) by (32)(\frac{3}{2}):\newlineT=(12)×(32)T = (\frac{1}{2}) \times (\frac{3}{2})
  4. Multiply Reciprocals: Multiplying the numerators and denominators separately, we get:\newlineT=1×32×2T = \frac{1 \times 3}{2 \times 2}\newlineT=34T = \frac{3}{4}
  5. Final Answer: So, it takes Maria 34\frac{3}{4} of an hour to shovel the snow off of the sidewalks on their street by herself.

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