SOLUTION: BILL IS X.
SUE IS 5 YEARS OLDER THAN BILL.
JANE IS 3 YEARS YOUNGER THAN BILL.
WHAT IS THEIR COMBINED AGE.
I FIRST TRIED TO WRITE THE EQUATIONS. THEN I TRIED TO PLUG IN 10 AS
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-> SOLUTION: BILL IS X.
SUE IS 5 YEARS OLDER THAN BILL.
JANE IS 3 YEARS YOUNGER THAN BILL.
WHAT IS THEIR COMBINED AGE.
I FIRST TRIED TO WRITE THE EQUATIONS. THEN I TRIED TO PLUG IN 10 AS
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Question 1109454: BILL IS X.
SUE IS 5 YEARS OLDER THAN BILL.
JANE IS 3 YEARS YOUNGER THAN BILL.
WHAT IS THEIR COMBINED AGE.
I FIRST TRIED TO WRITE THE EQUATIONS. THEN I TRIED TO PLUG IN 10 AS BILL'S AGE. IT JUST DOESN'T MAKE SENSE, UNLESS I'M GIVEN ONE MORE NUMBER.
S=X+5, OR X=S-5
J=X-3, OR J=S-5-3, THUS J=S-8.
IF X=10, THEN S=15 AND J=7
SUM OF ALL AGES IS 32.
BUT IF I PLUG IN ANOTHER NUMBER FOR BILL, THEN THE ENTIRE ANSWER CHANGES.
I THINK MY BOOK SHOULD HAVE GIVEN ME ONE MORE NUMBER IN ORDER TO SOLVE THESE AGES.
You can put this solution on YOUR website! Reading the problem, I think they
want the answer in terms of
plus a number, as follows: = Bill's age = sue's age = Jane's age
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Notice that you can't use
That gives you
for Jane's age
