SOLUTION: My brother is one year older than twice my age. The product of our ages is 55. How old am I and how old is my brother?

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Question 826140: My brother is one year older than twice my age. The product of our ages is 55. How old am I and how old is my brother?
Found 3 solutions by Alan3354, MathLover1, MathTherapy:
Answer by Alan3354(69443) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
My brother is one year older than twice my age. The product of our ages is 55. How old am I and how old is my brother?
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55 has only 2 pairs of factors.
You're either 1 & 55 or 5 & 11.

Answer by MathLover1(20850) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
let brother's age be x and your age y
if brother is one%7D%7B%7B+year+older+than+%7B%7B%7Btwice your age, then we have
x=2y%2B1...........eq.1

if the product of your ages is 55, then we have
x%2Ay=55...............eq.2
now solve the system
x=2y%2B1...........eq.1
x%2Ay=55...............eq.2
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x%2Ay=55...............eq.2...substitute x from eq.1
%282y%2B1%29%2Ay=55...............solve for y
2y%5E2%2By=55
2y%5E2%2By-55=0..........use quadratic formula
y+=+%28-1+%2B-+sqrt%28+1%5E2-4%2A2%2A%28-55%29+%29%29%2F%282%2A2%29+

y+=+%28-1+%2B-+sqrt%28+1%2B440+%29%29%2F4+
y+=+%28-1+%2B-+sqrt%28+441+%29%29%2F4+
y+=+%28-1+%2B-+21%29%2F4+..............we will need only positive solution because age cannot be negative number
y+=+%28-1+%2B21%29%2F4+
y+=+20%2F4+
y+=+5+....................your age
brother's age will be x=2y%2B1 which is x=2%2A5%2B1 or x=11
so, your brother is 11 years old





Answer by MathTherapy(10552) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!

My brother is one year older than twice my age. The product of our ages is 55. How old am I and how old is my brother?


My age:        highlight_green%285%29

Brother's age: highlight_green%2811%29

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