SOLUTION: sum of joe and shielas ages is 115. 14 years ago joe was twice as old as shiela. How old is shiela now?

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Question 1109761: sum of joe and shielas ages is 115. 14 years ago joe was twice as old as shiela. How old is shiela now?
Found 4 solutions by josgarithmetic, jorel1380, stanbon, greenestamps:
Answer by josgarithmetic(39630) About Me  (Show Source):
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system%28y%2Bx=115%2Cy-14=2%28x-14%29%29
x, Sheila; y, Joe

Answer by jorel1380(3719) About Me  (Show Source):
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Let j and s be joe and sheila, respectively. Then:
j+s=115 and
j-14=2(s-14) so
j-14=2s-28
j=2s-14
Then
s+2s-14=115
3s=129
s=43
Sheila is 43; Joe is 72
☺☺☺☺

Answer by stanbon(75887) About Me  (Show Source):
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sum of joe and sheilas ages is 115. 14 years ago joe was twice as old as shiela. How old is sheila now?
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Equations:
J + S = 115
J-14 = 2(S-14)
-------
J + S = 115
J -2S = -14
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Subtract and solve for "S"::
3S = 129
S = 43 yrs
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Cheers,
Stan H.
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Answer by greenestamps(13209) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!


All three earlier responses from other tutors showed the same setup for the problem. Just to demonstrate that there are nearly always different ways to solve a problem, here is what I would do with this problem.

The sum of their current ages is 115; 14 years ago that sum was 115-28 = 87.
Back then, Joe was twice as old as Sheila; a bit of arithmetic shows their ages back then were 58 and 29.
So now, 14 years later, Joe is 72 and Sheila is 43.