SOLUTION: BILL IS X. SUE IS 5 YEARS OLDER THAN BILL. JANE IS 3 YEARS YOUNGER THAN BILL. WHAT IS THEIR COMBINED AGE. I FIRST TRIED TO WRITE THE EQUATIONS. THEN I TRIED TO PLUG IN 10 AS

Question 1109454: BILL IS X.
SUE IS 5 YEARS OLDER THAN BILL.
JANE IS 3 YEARS YOUNGER THAN BILL.
WHAT IS THEIR COMBINED AGE.
I FIRST TRIED TO WRITE THE EQUATIONS. THEN I TRIED TO PLUG IN 10 AS BILL'S AGE. IT JUST DOESN'T MAKE SENSE, UNLESS I'M GIVEN ONE MORE NUMBER.
S=X+5, OR X=S-5
J=X-3, OR J=S-5-3, THUS J=S-8.
IF X=10, THEN S=15 AND J=7
SUM OF ALL AGES IS 32.
BUT IF I PLUG IN ANOTHER NUMBER FOR BILL, THEN THE ENTIRE ANSWER CHANGES.
I THINK MY BOOK SHOULD HAVE GIVEN ME ONE MORE NUMBER IN ORDER TO SOLVE THESE AGES.

Answer by josmiceli(19441) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Reading the problem, I think they
want the answer in terms of
plus a number, as follows:
= Bill's age
= sue's age
= Jane's age
------------------------

---------------------------------
Notice that you can't use
That gives you
for Jane's age

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