Question 1196451: juan is twice jose's age now. in 5 years he will be 1 1/2 times older than jose. how old are they now?
Found 2 solutions by josgarithmetic, greenestamps:
Answer by josgarithmetic(39617)   (Show Source):
Answer by greenestamps(13200)  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The author of the problem made it impossible to answer because he doesn't know how to write proper English.
If A is 2 TIMES AS OLD AS B and B is x years old, then A is 2x years old. The "times as old as" means we get the age of A by multiplying the age of B by 2.
But if A is 2 TIMES OLDER THAN B and B is x years old, the "older" means we use addition to find the age of A; the age of A is the age of B, PLUS 2 TIMES THE AGE OF B, which makes the age of A x+2x = 3x.
Unfortunately, in sloppy everyday usage the phrases "n times as old as" and "n times older than" are used to mean the same thing, but they do not.
So, as written, your problem says that now Juan is 2 times as old as Jose and in 5 years he will be 2.5 times as old. That is not possible; the ratio of their ages will decrease as years go by.
So, as the other tutor pointed out, your problem has no reasonable solution as stated, but it has a solution if it had been stated correctly.
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