document.write( "<A HREF=/cgi-bin/jump-to-question.mpl?question=1171122>Question 1171122</A>: <I><SPAN STYLE=\"word-break: break-all;\"> Imagine a Filipino family with seven members. The grandfather is 4 years older<BR>\n" );
document.write( " than the grandmother, while the oldest son is 6 years older than his younger<BR>\n" );
document.write( " brother and twice the age of the youngest sister. The wife of the oldest son is as old as him and their combined ages is 9 times the age of their child. If the youngest member is 8 times younger than the oldest member and it was 36 years ago when the grandparents had their first son, what is the present age of the grandmother ? </SPAN>\n" );
document.write( "</I><HR><TABLE width=100%><TR><TD><B><A HREF=http://www.algebra.com/>Algebra.Com's</A> Answer #796041 by </B><A HREF=/tutors/aboutme.mpl?userid=greenestamps><B>greenestamps(13198)</B></A><img src=\"/images/stars/stars-13.gif\" alt=\"\" >&nbsp;<A HREF=/tutors/aboutme.mpl?userid=greenestamps><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=greenestamps><BR>You can <A HREF=\"/cgi-bin/embed-solution.mpl?show=1&solution=796041\">put this solution on YOUR website!</A><BR><SPAN STYLE=\"word-break: break-all;\"> <br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "As tutor @ikleyn says in her response, working on a problem like this is a waste of time.<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "A good math problem should teach problem solving skills.  A problem in which most of the effort required to solve the problem is in understanding the given information is more of a puzzle than it is a math problem.<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "And if one were to try to interpret the information that is given in this problem, he would run into a fatal flaw.<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "Part of the given information says that one person is \"8 times younger than\" another person.<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "That phrase makes no sense, either grammatically or mathematically.<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "There is no meaningful interpretation of a phrase like \"one number is 8 times smaller than another\", or \"one person is 8 times younger than another\".<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "Given a number x, \"8 times smaller than\" that number is x, minus 8x, which is -7x.<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "That makes, in this problem, one of the ages negative -- which is nonsense.<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( " </SPAN>\n" );
document.write( "</TD></TR></TABLE>\n" );