Question 1094915
a girl is currently 5 years older than her younger brother and 3 years younger than her older brother. 2 years from the current time, the product of the ages of the brothers will be 12 times the age of the girl. what is the <s>current</s> age of the <s>oldest</s> OLDER brother
<pre>Let the older brother be E
Then girl is: E - 3, and the younger brother is: E - 3 - 5, or E - 8
We then get: (E + 2)(E - 8 + 2) = 12(E - 3 + 2)
(E + 2)(E - 6) = 12(E - 1)
(E + 2)(E - 6) = 12E - 12
{{{E^2 - 4E - 12 = 12E - 12}}}
{{{E^2 - 16E = 0}}}
E(E - 16) = 0
E - 16 = 0         OR           E = 0 (ignore)
E, or older brother is: {{{highlight_green(matrix(1,2, 16, years-old))}}}
That's all....nothing COMPLEX or CONFUSING! It can be done with ONE SIMPLE variable!