document.write( "Question 144721: A DOUBLE BIRTHDAY:\r
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document.write( "\"Your birthday today and also your son's! That's amazing. How old is he now?\"
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document.write( "Bob smiled. \"I'll tell you with fractions. One over his age, plus one over my age, makes one over seven. That's one-seventh, of course.\"\r
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document.write( "So what were their respective ages? \n" );
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Algebra.Com's Answer #105457 by solver91311(24713) You can put this solution on YOUR website! The given relationship, if the son's age is \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Solving for y we get: \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "We also know that since today is their mutual birthday, their ages must be integers.\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "We also know that the father's age cannot be a negative number and we cannot divide by zero, therefore the son's age must be an integer greater than or equal to 8.\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Let's try 8: \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Let's try 9: \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Let's try 10: \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Ah hah! As the son's possible age increases, the father's possible age decreases. This suggests an upper limit to the son's age -- after all, the father must be older than his son (discounting any weird genetic engineering or travel near the speed of light scenarios).\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Let's try 14: \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "You can check out 11, 12, and 13 as potential ages for the son. \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( " |