Question 1200283
A movie star, unwilling to give his age, posed the following riddle to a gossip columnist:
 "6 years ago, I was 11 times as old as my daughter.
 Now I am 5 times as old as she is."
 How old is the movie star?
:
let a = his present age
let d = daughter's present age
Write an equation for each statement
"
"6 years ago, I was 11 times as old as my daughter."
a - 6 = 11(d-6)
a - 6 = 11d - 66
a = 11d - 66 + 6
a = 11d - 60
and
" Now I am 5 times as old as she is."
a = 5d
replace a with 5d in the 1st equation
5d = 11d - 60
5d - 11d = -60
-6d = - 60
d = -60/-6
d = +10 is the daughters age
then
a = 5(10)
a = 50 yrs is his age
:
:
Check solution in the 1st statement
50 - 6 = 11(10-6)
44 = 11*(4)