Question 1158871

A woman is 35 years old and her son is 12 years old . How many years ago was the product of their ages 174
<pre>Let the number of years in the past that the woman's and her son's ages multiplied to 174, be y
Then we get: (35 - y)(12 - y) = 174
{{{matrix(1,3, 420 - 47y + y^2, "=", 174)}}}
{{{matrix(1,3, y^2 - 47y + 246, "=", 0)}}}
(y - 6)(y - 41) = 0 ------ Factoring the quadratic
y - 6 = 0        OR                   y - 41_______y = 41 (ignore) 
Number of years ago when woman's and son's ages multiplied to 174 or, {{{highlight_green(matrix(1,3, y, "=", 6))}}}