<PRE><B>Question 1149274</B>
the sum of the ages of a man and his wife is 63. In nine years, the wife’s age plus one fifth of her husbands age will equal the husbands age. How old is each now?
&lt;pre&gt;Let the man&#39;s age be M
Then the wife&#39;s is: 63 - M
We then get: {{{matrix(1,3, 63 - M + 9 + (1/5)M, &quot;=&quot;, M + 9)}}} 	
{{{matrix(1,3, - M + M/5 - M, &quot;=&quot;, 9 - 63 - 9)}}}	
{{{matrix(1,3, - 2M + M/5, &quot;=&quot;, - 63)}}} 	
{{{matrix(1,3, - 10M + M, &quot;=&quot;, - 315)}}} ------ Multiplying by LCD, 5 	
{{{matrix(1,3, - 9M, &quot;=&quot;, - 315)}}}
Man&#39;s age, or {{{highlight_green(matrix(1,5, M, &quot;=&quot;, (- 315)/(- 9), &quot;=&quot;, highlight(35)))}}}	
Wife&#39;s age: {{{highlight_green(matrix(1,3, 63 - 35, &quot;=&quot;, highlight(28)))}}}

To IKLEYN: I thought the same thing when I saw @josmiceli&#39;s answer, that he was wrong.
However, this problem has to do with what&#39;s discussed every day in this forum: INTERPRETATION of a problem as presented.
I shouldn&#39;t have responded because this problem is quite VAGUE, in my opinion. These are the interpretations based on our answers:
&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;My INTERPRETATION&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;
the sum of the ages of a man and his wife is 63. In nine years, the wife’s age plus one fifth of her husbands age&lt;b&gt;, &lt;u&gt;NOW&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt; will equal the husbands age&lt;b&gt;, &lt;u&gt;THEN&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;. How old is each now?
&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;@josmiceli&#39;s INTERPRETATION&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;
the sum of the ages of a man and his wife is 63. In nine years, the wife’s age plus one fifth of her husbands age&lt;b&gt;, &lt;u&gt;THEN&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt; will equal the husbands age&lt;b&gt;, &lt;u&gt;THEN&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;. How old is each now?
As I mentioned before, I should&#39;ve left it alone since it can be interpreted both ways, and since the author is looking for 1 answer, one of us would definitely have the incorrect answer.</PRE>