Firstly, we should find the hourly rate of dishes washed for each worker, to do this, I find it useful to use ratios;
For Ben:
500: 2
So
250: 1
250 dishes per hour
For Frank:
450: 3
So
150: 1
150 dishes per hour
Secondly, We know Frank is going to be doing half an hour of dish washing alone, so during this period, he will wash 75 dishes;
This means when they are both working, they must collectively wash the other 900 dishes;
Now, if we consider the rates of the two workers, we can deduce that they wash 400 dishes per hour working together;
So, to find the time needed to do the 900 they do together, we do:
900/400 = 2.25
They spend 2.25 hr's or 2 hr's 15 min's working together;
We know Frank stays an extra half hour so he works:
2:15 + 0:30 = 2:45
2 hr's 45 min's