SOLUTION: a child is one third the age of a older sibling. The ages of the two children are 16.What the age of the younger child.

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Question 252047: a child is one third the age of a older sibling. The ages of the two children are 16.What the age of the younger child.
Answer by unlockmath(1688)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Hello,
We can set up the older child's age as x and the younger would be 1/3(x). Now we can set up an equation like this:
x + 1/3(x)= 16 Multiply by 3 to get rid of the fraction:
3x + x = 48 Combine like terms to result in:
4x=48 Divide both sides by 4 will give us:
x=12 years old is the older child.
Can you figure the younger child's age now?
RJ
Check out a new math book at www.math-unlock.com

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