Age problems

Problem 1

Kevin is 4 years older than Margaret.

Next year Kevin will be 2 times as old as Margaret.
How old is Kevin?

Solution
Denote as Kevin's present age.
Then Margret's present age is .

Next year Kevin will be years old, and Margaret will be years
old.

Since next year Kevin will be 2 times as old as Margaret, you can write the
equation
.

Solve this equation by simplifying it, step by step:

(after brackets opening at the right side)

(after moving variable terms to the right and constant terms to the
left)
(after combining like terms)

Thus, you got that Kevin's present age is 7 years.

Check.
If Kevin's present age is 7 years, then Margaret is years old now.
Next year Margaret will be 4 years old, while Kevin will be 8 years old, which means
that next year Kevin will be 2 times as old as Margaret.
The solution is correct.

Answer. Kevin is 7 years old now.

Problem 2

Ann is 2 years older than Betty.

Last year Ann was 2 times as old as Betty.
How old is Ann?

Solution
Denote as Ann's present age.
Then Betty's present age is .

Last year Ann was years old, and Betty was years old.

Since last year Ann was 2 times as old as Betty, you can write the equation
.

Solve this equation by simplifying it, step by step:

(after brackets opening at the right side)

(after moving variable terms to the right and constant terms to the
left)
(after combining like terms)

Thus, you got that Ann's present age is years.

Check.
If Ann's present age is 5 years, then Betty is years old now.
Last year Ann was 4 years old, while Betty was 2 years old, which means that last
year Ann was 2 times as old as Betty.
The solution is correct.

Answer. Ann is 5 years old now.

Problem 3

Susan is 3 years older than Tom. Two years ago Susan was twice as old as Tom.
Find their present ages.

Solution
Denote as Tom's age 2 years ago.
Then Susan's age was 2 years ago.

Tom's age is at present.

Susan's age is at present.

Since Susan is 3 years older than Tom, you can write the equation
.

Solve this equation by simplifying it, step by step:

(after combining like terms at the right side)
(after moving variable terms to the right and constant terms to the
left)
 (after combining like terms)

Thus, you got that Tom was years old two years ago.
Hence, Susan was years old at that time.
At present, Tom is years old, and Susan is years old.

Answer. At present, Tom is 5 years old, and Susan is 8 years old.

Problem 4

Jerry is 7 years older than Jennifer. In three years Jerry will be twice as old as
Jennifer.
Find their present ages.

Solution
Denote as Jennifer's present age.
Then Jerry's present age is .

In three years Jennifer's age will be , while Jerry's age in three years will
be .
Since in two years Jerry will be twice as old as Jennifer, you can write the equation
.

Solve this equation by simplifying it, step by step:

(after brackets opening at the right side)
(after moving variable terms to the right and constant terms to the
left)
(after combining like terms)

Thus, you got that Jerry's present age is years.

Hence, Jennifer's present age is years.

In three years, Jerry will be years old, while Jennifer will

be years old.

Answer. At present, Jerry is 4 years old, and Jennifer is 11 years old.

Problem 5

A man has a daughter and a son.

The son is three years older than the daughter.
In one year the man will be six time as old as the daughter is now.
In ten years the man will be fourteen years older than the combined ages of his
children at that time.
What is the man's present age?

Solution
Denote as the daughter's present age.
Then the son's present age is .

Since in one year the man will be six time as old as the daughter is now, the man's
present age is .
In ten years the man's age will be , while the daughter's age will
be and the son's age will be .

Since in ten years the man will be fourteen years older than the combined ages of
his children at that time, you can write an equation
.

Solve this equation by simplifying it, step by step:

(after combining like terms at the right side)
(after moving variable terms to the right and constant terms to the
left)
(after combining like terms)
.

Thus, you got that the daughter's present age is years.

Hence, the son's present age is years, and the man's present age
is .

Answer. At present, the man is 41 years old.

Consecutive Integer Problem

Problem 1

The sum of the least and greatest of 3 consecutive integers is 60. What are the
values of the 3 integers?

Solution:

Step 1: Assign variables :

Let x = least integer

x + 1 = middle integer

x + 2 = greatest integer

Translate sentence into an equation.

Sentence: The sum of the least and greatest is 60.

Rewrite sentence:

x + (x + 2) = 60

Step 2: Solve the equation

Combine like terms

2x + 2 = 60

Isolate variable x

2x =58

Step 3: Check your answer

29 + 29 + 2 = 60

The question wants all the 3 consecutive numbers: 29, 30 and 31

Answer: The 3 consecutive numbers are 29, 30 and 31.

Problem 2

The lengths of the sides of a triangle are consecutive odd numbers. What is the
length of the longest side if the perimeter is 45?

Solution:

Step 1: Being consecutive odd numbers we need to add 2 to the previous number.

Assign variables :

Let x = length of shortest side

x + 2 = length of medium side

x + 4 = length of longest side

Sketch the figure

Step 2: Write out the formula for perimeter of triangle.

P = sum of the three sides

Step 3: Plug in the values from the question and from the sketch.

45 = x + x + 2 + x + 4

Combine like terms

45 = 3x + 6

Isolate variable x

3x = 45 6

3x = 39

x =13

Step 3: Check your answer

13 + 13 + 2 + 13 + 4 = 45

Be careful! The question requires the length of the longest side.

The length of longest = 13 + 4 =17

Answer: The length of longest side is 17

Problem 3

John has a board that is 5 feet long. He plans to use it to make 4 shelves whose
lengths are to be a series of consecutive even numbers. How long should each shelf
be in inches?

Solution:

Step 1: Being consecutive even numbers we need to add 2 to the previous number.

Assign variables :

Let x = length of first shelf

x + 2 = length of second shelf

x + 4 = length of third shelf

x + 6 = length of fourth shelf

Step 2: Convert 5 feet to inches

5 12 = 60

Step 3: Sum of the 4 shelves is 60

x + x + 2 + x + 4 + x + 6 = 60

Combine like terms

4x + 12 = 60

Isolate variable x

4x = 60 12

4x = 48

x = 12

Step 3: Check your answer

12 + 12 + 2 + 12 + 4 + 12 + 6 = 60

The lengths of the shelves should be 12, 14, 16 and 18.

Answer: The lengths of the shelves in inches should be 12, 14, 16 and 18
Problem 4

One third of the sum of five consecutive integers is 15.

Find the integers.

Solution
Again, this is a simple problem.
Since one third of the sum of five consecutive integers is 15, the entire sum of five
consecutive integers is 45.
Let be the third (the middle) of these five consecutive integers.
Then the first integer is equal to ,
the second integer is equal to ,
the fourth integer is equal to , and
the fifth integer is equal to .
Since the sum of these five consecutive integers , , , and is
equal to 45, you can write the equation
.

Simplify this equation. You get

(after combining like terms at the left side),
(after dividing both sides by 5).

Thus, the five consecutive integers are 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11.

You can easily check that

,
hence one third of the sum is 9. The solution is correct.

Answer.
The five consecutive integers are 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11.

Problem 5

The sum of three consecutive even integers is 18.

Find the integers.

Solution
Let be the second (the middle) of these three consecutive even integers.
Then the first one is , while the third one is .
Since the sum of these three consecutive even integers , and is equal
to 18, you can write the equation
 .

Simplify this equation. You get

(after combining like terms at the left side),
(after dividing both sides by 3).

Thus, the three consecutive even integers are 6-2=4, 6, and 6+2=8.
Easy check shows that the solution is correct:
.

Answer.
The three consecutive even integers are 4, 6 and 8.
Distance Problem

Problem 1

Joe drove his car at an average rate of 45 mph, for a total of 3.5 hours. How far
did he travel?

The first step in a distance problem is to read the problem carefully to determine
which two (2) pieces of information
have been given.
In this problem we were given the rate (r) of 45 mph, and the time (t) of 3.5 hours.
The beauty of using a formula is that it tells us exactly what to do.
D = (r)(t)

Plug in the given information:

D = (45)(3.5)
Perform the indicated operation (multiplication)

D = 157.5 miles

Joe drove his car a total of 157.5 miles!

Problem 2

A plane flew a total of 1920 miles at the average rate of speed of 320 mph. how
long did it take the plane to cover this distance?

Again, let's first find the 2 pieces of given information:

That's right, the Distance (D) is 1920 miles, and the rate (r) is 320
mph. The missing piece in this problem is the time (t).

Now, before we can do this problem we have to convert the Distance formula: D =
(r) x (t) to a formula for
finding the time. To do this we need to divide both sides of the formula
by "t". When we do that the "r" will be all by itself, and the formula will look like
this:
D/t = r
In algebra we prefer the letter we are solving for to be on the left side of the
equation, so all we have to do is flip the equation around and we get:
r = D/t
Once we've done that we simply "plug in" the given information, and perform the
indicated operation, which in this
formula is division.
r = 1920/320
1920/320 = 6
r=6

So, it took the plane 6 hours to travel that distance!

Problem 3

A man drove 190 in 5 hours. What was the average rate of speed on this trip?

190 represents the Distance (D), and 5 represents

the time (t).
That means that the missing piece in this problem
is the rate (r)

Do you remember what to do from the last problem?

You got it! We need to convert the Distance formula to a formula which allows us
to solve for "r".

D = (r) x (t)
If we divide both sides by "t" it will give us "r" all by itself, and that's exactly what
we need!

D/t = r
Now flip the equation around...
r = D/t
"Plug in" the given information:

r = 190/5
190/5 = 38
r = 38

The average rate the man drove on his trip was 38 mph!

Problem 4

Linda left home and drove for 2 hours. She stopped for lunch then drove for
another 3 hours at a rate that is 10 mph higher than the rate before she had lunch.
If the total distance Linda traveled is 230 miles, what was the rate before lunch?

Solution

If x is the rate at which Linda drove before lunch the rate after lunch is equal x +
10. The total distance D traveled by Linda is given by
D = 2 x + 3(x + 10)

and is equal to 230 miles. Hence

2 x + 3 (x + 10) = 230

Solve for x to obtain

x = 40 miles / hour.

Problem 5

Two trains, traveling towards each other, left from two stations that are 900 miles
apart, at 4 pm. If the rate of the first train is 72 mph and the rate of the second
train is 78 mph, at whatt time will they pass each other?

Solution

After t hours, the two trains will have traveled distances D1 and D2 (in miles)
given by

D1 = 72 t and D2 = 78 t

After t hours total distance D traveled by the two trains is given by

D = D1 + D2 = 72 t + 78 t = 150 t

When distance D is equal to 900 miles, the two trains pass each other.

150 t = 900

Solve the above equation for t

t = 6 hours
Mixture Problems

Problem 1

A store owner wants to mix cashews and almonds. Cashews cost 2 dollars per
pound and almonds cost 5 dollars per pound. He plans to sell 150 pounds of a
mixture. How many pounds of each type of nuts should be mixed if the mixture will
cost 3 dollars?

Let x be the number of pounds of cashews

So, 150 - x will represent the number of almonds

Since each pound of the mixture cost 3 dollars, 150 pounds will cost 3 150 = 450
dollars

Cost of cashews + cost of almonds = 450

2 x + (150 - x) 5 = 450

2x + 150 5 - x 5 = 450

2x + 750 - 5x = 450

2x - 5x + 750 = 450

-3x + 750 = 450

-3x + 750 - 750 = 450 - 750

-3x = -300

-3x/-3 = -300/-3

x = 100

150 - x = 150 - 100 = 50.

The store owner should mix 100 pounds of cashews with 50 pounds of almonds
Problem 2

How many liters of 20% alcohol solution should be added to 40 liters of a 50%
alcohol solution to make a 30% solution?

Solution

Let x be the quantity of the 20% alcohol solution to be added to the 40 liters
of a 50% alcohol. Let y be the quantity of the final 30% solution. Hence

x + 40 = y

We shall now express mathematically that the quantity of alcohol in x liters

plus the quantity of alcohol in the 40 liters is equal to the quantity of alcohol
in y liters. But remember the alcohol is measured in percentage term.

20% x + 50% * 40 = 30% y

Substitute y by x + 40 in the last equation to obtain.

20% x + 50% * 40 = 30% (x + 40)

Change percentages into fractions.

20 x / 100 + 50 * 40 / 100= 30 x / 100 + 30 * 40 / 100

Multiply all terms by 100 to simplify.

20 x + 50 * 40 = 30 x + 30 * 40

Solve for x.

x = 80 liters

80 liters of 20% alcohol is be added to 40 liters of a 50% alcohol solution to

make a 30% solution.

Problem 3
John wants to make a 100 ml of 5% alcohol solution mixing a quantity of a 2%
alcohol solution with a 7% alcohol solution. What are the quantities of each of the
two solutions (2% and 7%) he has to use?

Solution

Let x and y be the quantities of the 2% and 7% alcohol solutions to be used

to make 100 ml. Hence
 x + y = 100

We now write mathematically that the quantity of alcohol in x ml plus the

quantity of alcohol in y ml is equal to the quantity of alcohol in 100 ml.

2% x + 7% y = 5% 100

The first equation gives y = 100 - x. Substitute in the last equation to obtain

2% x + 7% (100 - x) = 5% 100

Multiply by 100 and simplify

2 x + 700 - 7 x = 5 * 100

Solve for x

x = 40 ml

Substitute x by 40 in the first equation to find y

y = 100 - x = 60 ml

Problem 4

Sterling Silver is 92.5% pure silver. How many grams of Sterling Silver must be
mixed to a 90% Silver alloy to obtain a 500g of a 91% Silver alloy?

Solution

Let x and y be the weights, in grams, of sterling silver and of the 90% alloy
to make the 500 grams at 91%. Hence

x + y =500

The number of grams of pure silver in x plus the number of grams of pure
silver in y is equal to the number of grams of pure silver in the 500 grams.
The pure silver is given in percentage forms. Hence

92.5% x + 90% y = 91% 500

Substitute y by 500 - x in the last equation to write

92.5% x + 90% (500 - x) = 91% 500

Simplify and solve

92.5 x + 45000 - 90 x = 45500

 x = 200 grams.

200 grams of Sterling Silver is needed to make the 91% alloy.

Problem 5

How many Kilograms of Pure water is to be added to 100 Kilograms of a 30% saline
solution to make it a 10% saline solution.

Solution

Let x be the weights, in Kilograms, of pure water to be added. Let y be the

weight, in Kilograms, of the 10% solution. Hence

x + 100 = y

Let us now express the fact that the amount of salt in the pure water (which
0) plus the amount of salt in the 30% solution is equal to the amount of salt
in the final saline solution at 10%.

0 + 30% 100 = 10% y

Substitute y by x + 100 in the last equation and solve.

30% 100 = 10% (x + 100)

Solve for x.

x = 200 Kilograms.