SOLUTION: At a family reunion 3 cousins were comparing there ages. Jennifer is 17 years younger than Rene and Rene is 10 years older then Melissa. Their ages total 60 years. How old is Rene?

Question 490361: At a family reunion 3 cousins were comparing there ages. Jennifer is 17 years younger than Rene and Rene is 10 years older then Melissa. Their ages total 60 years. How old is Rene?

Answer by Earlsdon(6294) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Let J = Jennifer's age, R = Rene's age, and M = Melissa's age.
J = R-17 "Jennifer is 17 years younger than Rene."
R = M+10 "Rene is 10 years older than Melissa."
J+R+M = 60 "Their ages total 60 years."
Find Rene's age.
Start with:
J+R+M = 60 Now substitute J = R-17 from the first equation.
(R-17)+R+M = 60 Now substitute M = R-10 from the second equation.
R-17+R+R-10 = 60 Combine like-terms.
3R-27 = 60 Add 27 to both sides.
3R = 87 Divide both sides by 3.
R = 29
Rene is 29 years old.
RELATED QUESTIONS
At a family reunion three cousins were comparing their ages. Jennifer is 17 years younger (answered by ikleyn)

Rene is 6 years older more than 2 times her younger sister Megan the sum of their ages... (answered by stanbon)

Rene is 6 years older than her younger sister. After ten years, the sum of their ages... (answered by tanjo3)

rene is 5 older than angie, in 8 years 3 times angie's age will exceed twice rene's age... (answered by lisboa)

rene is 5 older than angie, in 8 years 3 times angie's age will exceed twice rene's age... (answered by edjones)

the total of 3 cousins' ages is 48. Salley is half as old A Hawkins and 4 years older... (answered by addingup)

Rene is four times as old as his son Mario, who is currently nine years old. How old is... (answered by Cromlix)

There were 82 people at a family reunion. There were 4 more men than women. There were... (answered by edjones)

Jennifer, Paul and John are all siblings. Together their ages total 114. John is 5 years... (answered by addingup)