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Solving Age Problems

The document discusses how to solve age problems by representing the present, past, and future ages of people in the problems with variables. It provides examples of age problems and shows how to set up equations to relate the ages. The key steps are to let a variable represent one person's age, derive the other ages from that, and set up an equation relating the given information to the ages. Sample problems are worked through showing this process.

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Vinyl Oquiño
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78 views4 pages

Solving Age Problems

The document discusses how to solve age problems by representing the present, past, and future ages of people in the problems with variables. It provides examples of age problems and shows how to set up equations to relate the ages. The key steps are to let a variable represent one person's age, derive the other ages from that, and set up an equation relating the given information to the ages. Sample problems are worked through showing this process.

Uploaded by

Vinyl Oquiño
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Solving Age Problems

When you encounter an age problem, you will often see that the problem gives you information
about the age of a person in the future or in the past.

For example, if a mother is three times as old as her daughter, their present ages can be
represented as Let x = the daughter’s age and 3x = the mother’s age

Now if the problem gives you information about their ages, say, 6 years from now, you can
represent their future ages as

Let x + 6 = the daughter’s future age and

3x + 6 = the mother’s future age

Likewise, if the problem gives you some information about the ages, say, 5 years ago, you can
represent their past ages as

Let x - 5 = the daughter’s past age and

3x - 5 = the mother’s past age

The basic strategy for solving age problems is to represent the present ages of the people,
represent the past or future ages of the people, and then set up the equation.

EXAMPLE: A mother is ten times as old as her daughter; in 24 years, she will be twice as old as
her daughter. Find their present ages.

SOLUTION:

GOAL: You are being asked to find the present ages of the mother and daughter.
EVALUATION: In 24 years, the daughter’s age is 3 + 24 = 27 and the mother’s age is 30 + 24 =
54. Since 54 = 2 x 27, the mother will be twice as old as the daughter.

EXAMPLE: Bill is 8 years older than his brother. In 3 years, Bill will be twice as old as his
brother. Find their present ages.

SOLUTION:

GOAL: You are being asked to find the present ages of Bill and his brother.

STRATEGY: Let x = Bill’s brother’s age and x + 8 = Bill’s age. In 3 years, their ages will be x +
3 = Bill’s brother’s age and (x + 8) + 3 = Bill’s age.

Now in 3 years, Bill will be twice as old. This means the equation is 2 times Bill’s brother’s age
in 3 years = Bill’s age in 3 years or 2(x+ 3) = (x+8) + 3.

IMPLEMENTATION: Solve the equation:

2(x + 3) = (x + 8) + 3

2x + 6 = x + 8 + 3

2x + 6 = x + 11

2x - x + 6 = 11

x + 6 = 11
x = 11 - 6

x = 5 (Bill’s brother’s age)

x + 8 = 5 + 8 = 13 (Bill’s age)

EVALUATION: In 3 years, Bill’s brother will be 5 + 3 = 8 years, and Bill will be 13 + 3 = 16,
which is twice his brother’s age.

EXAMPLE: Jan is 6 years older than Mary. If the sum of their ages is 32, find each one’s age.

SOLUTION:

GOAL: You are being asked to find the ages of Jan and Mary.
EXAMPLE: A father is 34 years old and his son is 12 years old. In how many years will the
father be twice as old as his son?

SOLUTION:

GOAL: You are being asked to find the number of years it will be when the father is twice as old
as his son.

STRATEGY: Let x = the number of years. Then the father’s age in x years will be 34 + x years
and the son’s age in x years will be 12 + x years.

If the father is twice as old as the son in x years, the equation is 2(12+x) = 34+x.

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