Two pipes A and B can fill a tank in 6 hours and 4 hours respectively. If they are opened on alternate hours and if pipe A is opened first, in how many hours, the tank shall be full ?

Answer: Option C

Explanation:

Capacity of the tank = (12*13.5) litres
= 162 litres
Capacity of each bucket = 9 litres.
So we can get answer by dividing total capacity of tank by total capacity of bucket.
Number of buckets needed = (162/9) = 18 buckets

Answer: Option D

Explanation:

Part filled by A in 1 hour = 1/5
Part filled by B in 1 hour = 1/10
Part filled by C in 1 hour = 1/30

Part filled by (A+B+C) in 1 hour =
\begin{aligned}
\frac{1}{5}+\frac{1}{10}+\frac{1}{30} \\
= \frac{1}{3} \\
\end{aligned}

So all pipes will fill the tank in 3 hours.

Answer: Option B

Explanation:

In this type of questions we first get the filling in 1 minute for both pipes then we will add them to get the result, as

Part filled by A in 1 min = 1/20
Part filled by B in 1 min = 1/30

Part filled by (A+B) in 1 min = 1/20 + 1/30
= 1/12

So both pipes can fill the tank in 12 mins.

Answer: Option A

Explanation:

Let the slower pipe alone fill the tank in x minutes
then faster will fill in x/3 minutes.

Part filled by slower pipe in 1 minute = 1/x
Part filled by faster pipe in 1 minute = 3/x

Part filled by both in 1 minute = \begin{aligned}
\frac{1}{x} + \frac{3}{x}= \frac{1}{36} \\
=> \frac{4}{x} = \frac{1}{36} \\
x = 36*4 = 144 mins
\end{aligned}

Answer: Option C

Explanation:

When we have question like one is filling the tank and other is empting it, then we subtraction as,

Filled in 1 hour = 1/4
Empties in 1 hour = 1/9

Net filled in 1 hour = 1/4 - 1/9
= 5/36

So cistern will be filled in 36/5 hours i.e. 7.2 hours