document.write( "Question 3591: I have a question that is driving my wife and I crazy. Can you help us figure it out. It goes something like this:
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document.write( "Leah is 5 yrs older than Sue. John is 6 yrs older than Leah. Their ages total equals 41. How old is Sue? What is the equation for this problem? Thank you. \n" );
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Algebra.Com's Answer #1603 by longjonsilver(2297)![]() ![]() You can put this solution on YOUR website! this has 2 unknowns, so you will need 2 equations.\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "First define a couple of things: \n" ); document.write( "Let x = Leah's age now \n" ); document.write( "Let y = Sue's age now\r \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "eqn1: x = y+5 --> x-y = 5\r \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "eqn2: x+y = 41\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Adding these 2 equations together gives 2x = 46, so x (Leah's age) = 23. Hence, Sue must be 18.\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "jon. \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( " |