SOLUTION: Carl is twice as old as Rita. Meg is 5 years older than Carl. If the combined age is 155, how old is Meg?

Question 222583: Carl is twice as old as Rita. Meg is 5 years older than Carl. If the combined age is 155, how old is Meg?
Answer by drj(1380) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Carl is twice as old as Rita. Meg is 5 years older than Carl. If the combined age is 155, how old is Meg?

Step 1. Let x be the age of Rita.

Step 2. Let 2x be the age of Carl since he is twice as old as Rita.

Step 3. Let 2x+5 since Meg is 5 years older than Carl.

Step 4. Then x+2x+2x+5=155 since their combined age is 155.

Step 5. Solving the equation in Step 4 yields the following steps.

Subtract 5 from both sides of the equation

Divide by 5 to both sides of the equation

, then and . Note that the combined age is 155.

Step 6. ANSWER: The age of Meg is 65 years old. Note that Carl is 60 years old and Rita is 30 years old.

I hope the above steps were helpful.

For FREE Step-By-Step videos in Introduction to Algebra, please visit http://www.FreedomUniversity.TV/courses/IntroAlgebra and for Trigonometry visit http://www.FreedomUniversity.TV/courses/Trigonometry.

Good luck in your studies!

Respectfully,
Dr J

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