document.write( "Question 89775: A man is 41 years old and his son is 9. In how many years will the father be three times as old as his son? \n" ); document.write( "
Algebra.Com's Answer #65182 by bucky(2189)![]() ![]() ![]() You can put this solution on YOUR website! You need to add some unknown years to both the man's present age and the boy's present \n" ); document.write( "age. Call that unknown number of years \"x\". \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( "In x years, the man will be 41 + x years old and the boy will be 9 + x years old. \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( "The problem tells you that at that time the man will be three times as old as the boy. \n" ); document.write( "In other words, if you multiply the boy's age by 3, the result will equal the man's age. \n" ); document.write( "In equation form this is: \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( "41 + x = 3(9 + x) \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( "Multiply out the right side by multiplying 3 times each of the terms in the parentheses. \n" ); document.write( "When you do that multiplication you get: \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( "41 + x = 27 + 3x \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( "To solve this equation, you begin by getting all the terms containing x on one side of \n" ); document.write( "the equation, and then getting all the numbers on the other side. Start by getting rid \n" ); document.write( "of the x on the left side by subtracting x from both sides. When you do that subtraction \n" ); document.write( "you get: \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( "41 = 27 + 2x \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( "Now get rid of the 27 on the right side by subtracting 27 from both sides to make the \n" ); document.write( "equation become: \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( "14 = 2x \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( "Finally, solve for x by dividing both sides by 2: \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( "7 = x \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( "This tells you that in 7 years the man's age should be 3 times the boy's age. \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( "Check: \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( "In 7 years the man will be 41 + 7 = 48 years old. And 7 years from now the boy will be \n" ); document.write( "9 + 7 = 16 years old. Will the man's age be 3 times the boy's age? Yes it will. So the \n" ); document.write( "answer of 7 years is correct. \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( "Hope this helps you to understand this age problem a little better. \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( " |