Question 1129692: Clyde's age is 11 years more than thrice Bonnie's age. If the product of their ages is 60, how old is clyde? Found 3 solutions by josgarithmetic, ikleyn, greenestamps:Answer by josgarithmetic(39618) (Show Source):
There are many different ways to solve this problem using formal algebra. All of them result in a quadratic equation that needs to be factored to solve the problem.
One response you have received shows the work up to "c(c-11)=180" and then gives the (wrong) answers without showing how the equation was solved.
A different formal algebraic solution I tried ends up with an uglier quadratic equation which is even harder to solve by factoring.
But if a formal algebraic solution is not required, the original problem can be solved with logical trial and error, requiring mathematics that is far simpler than any algebraic solution.
The original problem requires you to find two whole numbers whose product is 60, with one of the numbers being 11 more than 3 times the other.
There aren't a lot of pairs of whole numbers whose product is 60; and the requirement that one of them be MUCH larger than the other leaves only a couple of possibilities to try: 2 and 30, or 3 and 20.
The pair 3 and 20 satisfies the second requirement; it is the answer.
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