Question 597292
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Your claim is that


*[tex \LARGE \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ 2\ -\ 3a]


represents Kelly's age when Tracy is *[tex \Large a] years old.  Let's see if that idea makes sense.


What if Tracy were 1 year old?


*[tex \LARGE \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ 2\ -\ 3(1)\ =\ 2\ -\ 3\ =\ -1]


So if Tracy is 1 year old, then Kelly would be -1 years old.  Kelly's Mom and Dad might not even know each other yet.  That seems fishy, doesn't it?


Let's re-examine what the problem says:  Kelly is 2 years younger than three times Tracy's age.


Tracy's age is *[tex \Large a]


Three times Tracy's age is *[tex \Large 3a]


Two years younger than that is *[tex \Large 3a\ -\ 2]


So if you let *[tex \Large b] represent Kelly's age, you can now write:


*[tex \LARGE \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ b\ =\ 3a\ -\ 2]


Then, for Part B you can substitute 12 in place of *[tex \Large a] and do the arithmetic.  And for Part C you can substitute 16 for *[tex \Large b] and solve the equation for *[tex \Large a]


John
*[tex \LARGE e^{i\pi} + 1 = 0]
My calculator said it, I believe it, that settles it
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