Question 965112
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There is no solution in whole numbers; the statement of the problem is faulty.<br>
"...5 times older than..." is <h1><b><i>NOT</b></i></h1> the same as "...5 times as old as...".<br>
If James's age is x and his father is 5 times AS OLD AS James, then his father's age is clearly 5 times x, or 5x.<br>
But if James's age is x and his father is 5 times OLDER THAN James, then his father's age is x, PLUS 5 TIMES MORE x, or x+5x = 6x.<br>
So in this problem, if x is James's age, then his dad's age is 6x and his sister's age is (1/2)x.  That, with the given information about the sum of their ages 2 years from now, leads to a non-integer value for x, making the problem faulty and unsolvable.<br>
Unfortunately, in everyday language, "5 times older than" and "5 times as old as" are carelessly used to mean the same thing; but grammatically that is incorrect; they mean different things.<br>
Bottom line:<br><pre>
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*  Phrases like "3 times older than" or "4 times greater than" should NEVER *
*   be used in the statement of a math problem.                             *
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