document.write( "Question 1203735: The sum of Jess, Sam and Mindy’s ages is 42. Jess is younger than Sam, but older than Mindy. Sam
\n" ); document.write( "is twice as old as Mindy, who is the youngest out of the three by 6 years. If Jess is 15 years old, how
\n" ); document.write( "old are Sam and Mindy?
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Algebra.Com's Answer #839537 by greenestamps(13200)\"\" \"About 
You can put this solution on YOUR website!


\n" ); document.write( "The given fact that the sum of their ages is not needed; the problem can be solved with the other information.

\n" ); document.write( "Jess is 15.
\n" ); document.write( "Jess is younger than Sam and older than Mindy.
\n" ); document.write( "Mindy is the youngest, by 6 years, so Mindy is 15-6 = 9.
\n" ); document.write( "Sam is twice as old as Mindy, so he is 9*2 = 18.

\n" ); document.write( "Yes, the sum of their ages is 15+9+18 = 42 -- but we didn't need that information to solve the problem.

\n" ); document.write( "ANSWER: Mindy is 9, Sam is 18

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\n" ); document.write( "Note the solution from tutor @josgarithmetic uses an equation that says Mindy is 6 years younger than Sam, which is not correct, leading of course to a wrong solution. The tutor should have realized the solution was wrong, since the sum of the ages he ended up with is not 42.

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