document.write( "<A HREF=/cgi-bin/jump-to-question.mpl?question=1206699>Question 1206699</A>: <I><SPAN STYLE=\"word-break: break-all;\"> Gabor is w years old. his mother is 4 times older than him. his father is three years older than his mother. write an expression to represent the age of Gabor's mother as a function of w </SPAN>\n" );
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document.write( "ANSWER (the grammatically correct one): 5w<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "The phrase \"... (some number) times OLDER THAN...\" should NEVER be used in the statement of a math problem, because its grammatically correct meaning is NOT what nearly everyone thinks.  The statement of a math problem cannot be such that the given information can be interpreted incorrectly.<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "If Gabor's age is w and his mother is 4 TIMES AS OLD AS Gabor, then her age is 4 times w, or 4w.<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "But \"4 times OLDER THAN Gabor\" means Gabor's age, PLUS 4 MORE TIMES HIS AGE: w, plus 4w more; w+4w = 5w.<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "Unfortunately, in sloppy everyday usage, 4 times OLDER THAN is nearly always meant to be 4 times AS OLD AS.<br><BR>\n" );
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