Give the step-by-step reasoning process and then the final answer. Patrick has 4 hours less than twice the amount of time that Greg has left to finish his homework. Greg has six hours less than Jacob left to finish his homework. If Jacob has 18 hours left to finish his homework, calculate the total number of hours they all have left to finish their homework?
If Jacob has 18 hours left to finish his homework, Greg has 18 - 6 = 12 hours left to finish his homework. The total number of hours Jacob and Greg have left to finish their homework is 12 + 18 = 30 hours. Patrick has 4 hours less than twice Greg has left to finish his homework, meaning Patrick has 4 hours less than 12 * 2 = 24 hours left to finish his homework. Patrick has 24 - 4 = 20 hours left to finish his homework. Altogether, the three have 30 + 20 = 50 hours left to finish their homework.
The final answer: 50.