The Little People by: Maria Aleah G. Taboclaon

Age problems

The purpose of this lesson is to show you how to solve Age problems.

Problem 1

Kevin is 4 years older than Margaret.
Next year Kevin will be 2 times as old as Margaret.
How old is Kevin?

Solution
Denote as Kevin's present age.
Then Margret's present age is .

Next year Kevin will be years old, and Margaret will be years old.

Since next year Kevin will be 2 times as old as Margaret, you can write the equation
.

Solve this equation by simplifying it, step by step:

(after brackets opening at the right side) (after moving variable terms to the right and constant terms to the left) (after combining like terms)

Thus, you got that Kevin's present age is years.

Check.
If Kevin's present age is 7 years, then Margaret is years old now.
Next year Margaret will be 4 years old, while Kevin will be 8 years old, which means that next year Kevin will be 2 times as old as Margaret.
The solution is correct.

Answer. Kevin is 7 years old now.

Problem 2

Ann is 2 years older than Betty.
Last year Ann was 2 times as old as Betty.
How old is Ann?

Solution
Denote as Ann's present age.
Then Betty's present age is .

Last year Ann was years old, and Betty was years old.

Since last year Ann was 2 times as old as Betty, you can write the equation
.

Solve this equation by simplifying it, step by step:

(after brackets opening at the right side) (after moving variable terms to the right and constant terms to the left) (after combining like terms)

Thus, you got that Ann's present age is years.

Check.
If Ann's present age is 5 years, then Betty is years old now.
Last year Ann was 4 years old, while Betty was 2 years old, which means that last year Ann was 2 times as old as Betty.
The solution is correct.

Answer. Ann is 5 years old now.

Problem 3

Susan is 3 years older than Tom. Two years ago Susan was twice as old as Tom.
Find their present ages.

Solution
Denote as Tom's age 2 years ago.