SOLUTION: Tyler is 4 years older than his younger brother Austin. The ratio of Austin's age to Tyler's age is 1/24 more today than it was 8 years ago. Write a rational equation in one vari
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Question 1103909: Tyler is 4 years older than his younger brother Austin. The ratio of Austin's age to Tyler's age is 1/24 more today than it was 8 years ago. Write a rational equation in one variable to model this situation, using a to represent Austin's age. Answer by greenestamps(13203) (Show Source):
It's a strange way to word the problem; with the interpretation I expected, there are no whole number answers for their ages. But with a different interpretation, there are.
But the problem only asked us to write an equation; it didn't ask us to solve the problem.
If a is Austin's age, then Tyler's age is a+4; the ratio of Austin's age to Tyler's age is a/(a+4).
8 years ago, their ages were a-8 and a-4; the ratio of their ages then was (a-8)/(a-4).
The problem says the ratio now is 1/24 more than the ratio 8 years ago:
