Thread: Very hard age problem...

Eunice is three years older than steve. When they got married 40 years ago, the difference of twice Eunice age from thrice Steve's age was 16. how old will each of them be when they celebrate their golden anniversary. (50th year)?

Originally Posted by ^_^Engineer_Adam^_^

Eunice is three years older than steve. When they got married 40 years ago, the difference of twice Eunice age from thrice Steve's age was 16. how old will each of them be when they celebrate their golden anniversary. (50th year)?

Hello,

let e be the age of Eunice
let s be the age of Steve

Then you have:

1) e = s + 3
2) 3(s-40) - 2(e-40) = 16

Plug in 1) into 2) and you'll get:

3(s-40) - 2(s+3 - 40) = 16

That's an equation in s. Solve for s and you'll get: s = 62, thus e = 65

10 years later they'll celebrate their golden anniversary.

So Eunice will be 75 years old and Steve 72. Congratulations!

Greetings

EB

Hello, ^_^Engineer_Adam^_^!

Eunice is three years older than Steve. .When they got married 40 years ago,
the difference of twice Eunice age from thrice Steve's age was 16.
How old will each of them be when they celebrate their golden anniversary (50th year)?

I prefer a chart to organize the facts.

Make a row for each person (Eunice and Steve).
Make a column for each time period ("Now" and "40 years ago").

Code:

          |  Now  |  40 ago |
  - - - - + - - - + - - - - + 
   Eunice |       |         |
  - - - - + - - - + - - - - +
    Steve |       |         |
  - - - - + - - - + - - - - +

Let x = Steve's age (now).
Since Eunice is 3 years older, her age is x + 3 (now).
Write those in the chart.

Code:

          |  Now  |  40 ago |
  - - - - + - - - + - - - - + 
   Eunice | x + 3 |         |
  - - - - + - - - + - - - - +
    Steve |   x   |         |
  - - - - + - - - + - - - - +

Forty years ago, Eunice was 40 years younger.
. . Her age was: x + 3 - 40 .= .x - 37
Steve was 40 years younger.
. . His age was: x - 40
Write those in the chart.

Code:

          |  Now  |  40 ago |
  - - - - + - - - + - - - - + 
   Eunice | x + 3 |  x - 37 |
  - - - - + - - - + - - - - +
    Steve |   x   |  x - 40 |
  - - - - + - - - + - - - - +

We are told that, 40 years ago,

. . 3(Steve) - 2(Eunice) .= .16
. . . . . ↓ . . . . . . .↓
. . 3(x - 40) - 2(x - 37) .= .16


and there is our equation!