A manufacturer builds a machine which will address 500 envelopes in 8 minutes. He wishes to build another machine so that when both are operating together they will address 500 envelopes in 2 minutes. The equation used to find how many minutes x it would require the second machine to address 500 envelopes alone, is = ?

Number of envelopes addressed by first machine in 1 minute
$$ = \frac{{500}}{8}$$
Number of envelopes addressed by second machine in 1 minute
$$ = \frac{{500}}{x}$$
Number of envelopes addressed by both machine in 1 minute
$$\eqalign{ & {\text{ = }}\frac{{500}}{2} \cr & \therefore \frac{{500}}{8} + \frac{{500}}{x} = \frac{{500}}{2} \cr & \Rightarrow \frac{1}{8} + \frac{1}{x} = \frac{1}{2} \cr} $$