Question 144256
I agree that the question is poorly worded, making it somewhat ambiguous
__ it seems that the author is trying to imply son's age plus 1


let x="son this year"


"john is 3 times the age his son will be next year" __ 3(x+1)


"his wife is 20 years older than her son is this year" __ x+20


"there (sp) combined ages total 71" __ x+3(x+1)+x+20=71 __ 5x+23=71 __ x=9.6



age problems should have integer (whole number) solutions
__ when someone asks your age; it is 43, not 43 and 87 days


based on this; the son could be the same age next year, or 2 years older
__ depending on on the date relative to his birthday


the 2 year scenario is the only one leading to an integer solution
__ son is 9, John is 33, wife is 29



in retrospect, since an integer solution does exist; perhaps the author wanted us to think about the vagaries of ages