document.write( "Question 1198730: Sixteen year old Amelia is four times older than her brother Theodore. How old will Amelia be when she's twice as old?
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Algebra.Com's Answer #832386 by greenestamps(13200)\"\" \"About 
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\n" ); document.write( "As pointed out by some of the other tutors, the phrase \"four times older than\" should never be used in the statement of a math problem, because most people think it means something different than it really means.

\n" ); document.write( "If one person's age is x and another person is four times older than the first, then the age of the second person is x, PLUS 4 times x -- i.e., x+4x = 5x.

\n" ); document.write( "Unfortunately, in everyday usage, the phrase is used to mean that the age of the second person is 4x. But that is grammatically incorrect.

\n" ); document.write( "So in this problem the intended information is that Amelia is 4 times AS OLD AS her brother.

\n" ); document.write( "Then, since Amelia is 16, Theodore's age is 16/4 = 4. The difference in their ages is then 16-4 = 12 years.

\n" ); document.write( "Since the difference in their ages will always be 12 years, when Amelia is twice as old as Theodore she will be 24 and he will be 12.

\n" ); document.write( "ANSWER: 24

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