Question 1023594: The sum of the ages of two brothers is 31 years. They differ in age by 3 years. How is old is each of them? Found 2 solutions by Emilym1234, ikleyn:Answer by Emilym1234(10) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website! Hi! First, I did this in my head-sort-of-way. I'm
Not sure if you had to solve this algebraically, but here you go:
Make a list of all possible solutions to add up to 31.
1,30 2,29 3,28------------------
14,17!! The older one is 17, while the younger one is 14.
They both add to 31, and are exactly 3 years apart!
I hope this helped you, and is it didn't, maybe
Somebody will respond with a much easier or faster way to do this!
Answer by ikleyn(52781) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website! .
The sum of the ages of two brothers is 31 years. They differ in age by 3 years. How is old is each of them?
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x + y = 31, (1)
x - y = 3. (2)
Every time when you see two equations like these, add them. You will get
2x = 31 + 3,
2x = 34,
x = = 17.
Thus the older brother is 17 years old.
The younger brother's age is 17-3 = 14 years.