SOLUTION: juan is twice jose's age now. in 5 years he will be 1 1/2 times older than jose. how old are they now?

Question 1196451: juan is twice jose's age now. in 5 years he will be 1 1/2 times older than jose. how old are they now?
Found 2 solutions by josgarithmetic, greenestamps:
Answer by josgarithmetic(39617) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Juan is age 2j.
Jose is age j.
In five years,

Your problem is faulty.

---
---

IF problem said, "... he will be 1&1/2 times as old as Jose"
THEN

Answer by greenestamps(13200) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!

The author of the problem made it impossible to answer because he doesn't know how to write proper English.

If A is 2 TIMES AS OLD AS B and B is x years old, then A is 2x years old. The "times as old as" means we get the age of A by multiplying the age of B by 2.

But if A is 2 TIMES OLDER THAN B and B is x years old, the "older" means we use addition to find the age of A; the age of A is the age of B, PLUS 2 TIMES THE AGE OF B, which makes the age of A x+2x = 3x.

Unfortunately, in sloppy everyday usage the phrases "n times as old as" and "n times older than" are used to mean the same thing, but they do not.

So, as written, your problem says that now Juan is 2 times as old as Jose and in 5 years he will be 2.5 times as old. That is not possible; the ratio of their ages will decrease as years go by.

So, as the other tutor pointed out, your problem has no reasonable solution as stated, but it has a solution if it had been stated correctly.

RELATED QUESTIONS
Solve and Show your solution Two years ago, Jose was 5/2 times older than his sister... (answered by josmiceli)
2 LINEAR EQUATIONS IN 2 UNKNOWNS or SIMULTANEOUS LINEAR EQUATIONS IN 2 UKNOWNS in 5... (answered by josgarithmetic)
Jose is 27 years older than his son. 10 years from now, he will be twice as old as his... (answered by ewatrrr)
Bert is twice victor's age now. After 5 years he will be 1 1/2 times older than victor.... (answered by macston)
Juan is 8 years older than his sister. In 3 years, he will be twice as old as she will be (answered by scott8148)
what is the answer in this question: Jose is 27 years older than his son. 10 years from... (answered by vleith)
Miguel is 8 years older than his brother Juan. Five years from now, he will be twice as... (answered by drj)
Angel is 2 years older than Gavin. In 6 years, Gavin's age will be twice Angel's age now. (answered by Edwin McCravy)
Jose is 5 years older than Tess. Three years ago, he was twice as old as Tess. How old is (answered by josmiceli)