All members of our painting team paint at the same rate. If $10$ members can paint a $1000$ square foot wall in $10$ minutes, then how long would it take for $5$ members to paint a $1000$ square foot wall, in minutes?
well, since they paint 1000 sq ft in 10 minutes, the individual work rate is 10 sq ft per minute.
plug that into the second equation, and you get 5(members)*10(work rate)*x(time)=1000. so x=20, 20 minutes.
I hope this is right, it seems simple enough .