document.write( "<A HREF=/cgi-bin/jump-to-question.mpl?question=630202>Question 630202</A>: <I><SPAN STYLE=\"word-break: break-all;\"> May you pls help me with this question<BR>\n" );
document.write( "\"In 9 years time,the mother will be twice as old as her son,she was 4 times older than her son after 3 years.find their age?<BR>\n" );
document.write( "Thank you tutor.<BR>\n" );
document.write( "kaaliendjala@gmail.com </SPAN>\n" );
document.write( "</I><HR><TABLE width=100%><TR><TD><B><A HREF=http://www.algebra.com/>Algebra.Com's</A> Answer #396775 by </B><A HREF=/tutors/aboutme.mpl?userid=Theo><B>Theo(13342)</B></A><img src=\"/images/stars/stars-13.gif\" alt=\"\" >&nbsp;<A HREF=/tutors/aboutme.mpl?userid=Theo><IMG SRC=http://www.algebra.com/images/aboutme-small.gif BORDER=0 alt=\"About Me\" VALIGN=MIDDLE></A>&nbsp;<IMG SRC=http://www.algebra.com/cgi-bin/show-face.mpl?user=Theo><BR>You can <A HREF=\"/cgi-bin/embed-solution.mpl?show=1&solution=396775\">put this solution on YOUR website!</A><BR><SPAN STYLE=\"word-break: break-all;\"> if i interpret the question correctly, it looks like we have a very young mother.<BR>\n" );
document.write( "the answer, as far as i can tell, is the age of the mother today is 9 years old and the son was just born so the age of the son is 0 years old.<BR>\n" );
document.write( "in 9 years, the mother will be 18 and the son will be 9.<BR>\n" );
document.write( "this means the mother is twice as old as the son.<BR>\n" );
document.write( "in 3 years, the mother will be 12 and the son will be 3.<BR>\n" );
document.write( "this means the mother is 4 times as old as the son.<BR>\n" );
document.write( "unless i misunderstood the problem, this is the answer i get.<BR>\n" );
document.write( "the problem as far as i can see is this.\r<BR>\n" );
document.write( "\n" );
document.write( "statement 1:<BR>\n" );
document.write( "In 9 years time,the mother will be twice as old as her son.\r<BR>\n" );
document.write( "\n" );
document.write( "if we allow m to represent her age now, and s to represent her son's age now, then the equation we get from this statement is this:\r<BR>\n" );
document.write( "<BR>\n" );
document.write( "\n" );
document.write( "m+9 = 2*(s+9)\r<BR>\n" );
document.write( "<BR>\n" );
document.write( "\n" );
document.write( "statement 2:<BR>\n" );
document.write( "she was 4 times older than her son after 3 years.\r<BR>\n" );
document.write( "<BR>\n" );
document.write( "\n" );
document.write( "i interpreted this to mean that she was 4 times as old as her son in 3 years.<BR>\n" );
document.write( "the equation for this would be:\r<BR>\n" );
document.write( "<BR>\n" );
document.write( "\n" );
document.write( "m+4 = 4*(s+3)\r<BR>\n" );
document.write( "<BR>\n" );
document.write( "\n" );
document.write( "if the interpretations are correct, then the mathematics works out as follows:\r<BR>\n" );
document.write( "<BR>\n" );
document.write( "\n" );
document.write( "you have 2 equations that need to be solved simultaneously.<BR>\n" );
document.write( "they are:\r<BR>\n" );
document.write( "<BR>\n" );
document.write( "\n" );
document.write( "m+9 = 2*(s+9)<BR>\n" );
document.write( "m+3 = 4*(s+3)\r<BR>\n" );
document.write( "<BR>\n" );
document.write( "\n" );
document.write( "simplify these equations to get:\r<BR>\n" );
document.write( "<BR>\n" );
document.write( "\n" );
document.write( "m+9 = 2*s+18<BR>\n" );
document.write( "m+3 = 4*s+12\r<BR>\n" );
document.write( "<BR>\n" );
document.write( "\n" );
document.write( "there are several ways to solve this, but the answer becomes s = 0 and m = 9<BR>\n" );
document.write( "to confirm that this is the correct answer, solve both equations by substituting 0 for s and 9 for m.\r<BR>\n" );
document.write( "<BR>\n" );
document.write( "\n" );
document.write( "the first equation of:<BR>\n" );
document.write( "m+9 = 2*s+18 becomes:<BR>\n" );
document.write( "9+9 = 2*0+18 which becomes:<BR>\n" );
document.write( "18 = 18 which confirms that m = 9 and s = 0 works for the first equation.\r<BR>\n" );
document.write( "<BR>\n" );
document.write( "\n" );
document.write( "the second equation of:<BR>\n" );
document.write( "m+3 = 4*s+12 becomes:<BR>\n" );
document.write( "9+3  4*0+12 which becomes:<BR>\n" );
document.write( "12 = 12 which confirms that m = 9 and s = 0 works for the second equation.\r<BR>\n" );
document.write( "<BR>\n" );
document.write( "\n" );
document.write( "since m = 9 and s = 0 works for both equations, that is the common solution to both equations.\r<BR>\n" );
document.write( "<BR>\n" );
document.write( "\n" );
document.write( "it might look strange (a 9 year old mother would be very rare), but the mathematics comes out, assuming the interpretation of the problem is correct.\r<BR>\n" );
document.write( "<BR>\n" );
document.write( "<BR>\n" );
document.write( "<BR>\n" );
document.write( "<BR>\n" );
document.write( "\n" );
document.write( " </SPAN>\n" );
document.write( "</TD></TR></TABLE>\n" );