Question 1163555
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Your problem is ambiguously worded.  If you interpret the problem as Jill's age being 3 times John's age, you get a non-integer solution.  However, if you interpret the problem to mean Jack's age is 3 times John's age, it works:


Let *[tex \Large x] represent Jill's age, then *[tex \Large x\ -\ 2] represents Jack's age, and *[tex \Large \frac{x\,-\,2}{3}] represents John's age.


*[tex \LARGE \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ (x\,-\,2)\ +\ x\ +\ \frac{x\,-\,2}{3}\ =\ 23]


Solve for *[tex \Large x] and you should discover that Jill is 11, making Jack 9 and John 3 for a total of 23 as requested.
								
								
John
*[tex \LARGE e^{i\pi}\ +\ 1\ =\ 0]
My calculator said it, I believe it, that settles it
<img src="http://c0rk.blogs.com/gr0undzer0/darwin-fish.jpg">
*[tex \Large \ \
*[tex \LARGE \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \  
								
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