If it takes Patterson 8 minutes to run 2/3 of a lap.
Let the time to complete on one lap be x,
Then 2/3 of x = 8
cross- multiply, we have :
[tex]\begin{gathered} \frac{2}{3}x=8,_{} \\ 2x=8\times3 \\ \text{Then }x=\text{ }\frac{8\times3}{2} \\ x\text{ = 12 mins} \end{gathered}[/tex]