document.write( "Question 697142: Mary Lou is 4 years younger than her sister, Jane. Their mother, who is a mathematics teacher, noticed that the product of the ages of the two sisters is 32. How old are the girls?\r
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document.write( "So far i have : y= age of jane
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document.write( " x= age of mary lu\r
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document.write( "y-x
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document.write( "y(x)=32 \n" );
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Algebra.Com's Answer #429687 by Stitch(470)![]() ![]() ![]() You can put this solution on YOUR website! Hi, you are on the right track but the trick is that there are two equations. \n" ); document.write( "Given: \n" ); document.write( "Y = Age of Jane \n" ); document.write( "X = Age of Mary Lou \n" ); document.write( "----------------- \n" ); document.write( "Setup: \n" ); document.write( "Equation 1: \n" ); document.write( "Equation 2: \n" ); document.write( "------------------ \n" ); document.write( "Since equation 1 is already solved for Y, plug (X + 4) into equation 2 for Y. \n" ); document.write( "Equation 2: \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "Simplify \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "Subtract 32 from both sides to set the equation equal to zero \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "You can now factor the equation or use the quadratic equation. \n" ); document.write( "Here is the quadratic equation approach. \n" ); document.write( "
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "So X is 4 or -8. \n" ); document.write( "Since age is a positive number this means that Mary Lou is 4 \n" ); document.write( "Now plug 4 into equation 1 for X to solve for Jane's age \n" ); document.write( "Equation 1: \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( " |