Question 1209753
<pre>
The first sentence is:
My brother is 7 years younger than ('my age'). It mentions 'my age' second, so:
Let this bar be 'my age':
{{{drawing(800,70,-1, 50, -1,2.5, rectangle(0,1,5,2),rectangle(0,1,5,2))}}}
And since the brother BRO is 7 years younger, we use a shorter bar for 'BRO's age'.
{{{drawing(800,70,-1, 50, -1,2.5,locate(.9,1.9,BRO), rectangle(0,1,3,2),rectangle(0,1,3,2))}}}  
Now notice that "my age" can be partitioned off into 'bro's age' and 7 more,
like this:
{{{drawing(800,70,-1, 50, -1,2.5,rectangle(0,1,5,2),rectangle(0,1,3,2), locate(.9,1.9,BRO),locate(3.9,1.9,7) )}}}
Now we look at the next sentence:
Twice my age plus 3 times his age is 99.
So we make 2 long bars for 'my age' and 3 short bars for 'bro's age':
{{{drawing(800,70,-1, 50, -1,2.5, 

rectangle(0,1,5,2),rectangle(6,1,11,2), 
rectangle(12,1,15,2),rectangle(16,1,19,2),rectangle(20,1,23,2),
locate(24.2,1.9,matrix(1,2,""="",99)),

locate(12.9,1.9,BRO),locate(16.9,1.9,BRO),locate(20.9,1.9,BRO) )}}}

Now let's partition off the bars for 'my age' as we did above:

{{{drawing(800,70,-1, 50, -1,2.5, 

locate(.9,1.9,BRO), locate(6.9,1.9,BRO),

rectangle(0,1,5,2),rectangle(6,1,11,2), 
rectangle(0,1,3,2),rectangle(6,1,9,2),

rectangle(12,1,15,2),rectangle(16,1,19,2),rectangle(20,1,23,2),
locate(24.2,1.9,matrix(1,2,""="",99)),

locate(3.9,1.9,7), locate(9.9,1.9,7),

locate(12.9,1.9,BRO),locate(16.9,1.9,BRO),locate(20.9,1.9,BRO) )}}}

Now we count the BRO's and there are 5 of them.
We count the 7's and there are 2 of them, so the equation is

                      5 BRO's + 2 7's = 99
or                           5B + 2x7 = 99
                              5B + 14 = 99
 Subtract 14 from both sides:      5B = 85
 Divide both sides by 5:            B = 17

BRO is 7 years younger, so 'your age' is 17 + 7 or 24.

Edwin</pre>