Age Problems

Age problems are especially tricky to get a handle on because they relate
information that is going on now to information that will be going on in the future
or information that has gone on in the past.
Example:
Louise is 4 years younger than Jennifer now. In 10 years, Louise will be twice the
age that Jennifer is now.
To start with, we set up a chart as below:
Louise
Jennifer

Present
x
x+4

In 10 years
2(x+4) OR x+10
x+14

Ok, we start by calling some value x and trying to relate this value to other
values from the information given. The first person mentioned is Louise, so I
called her present age x. Louise is 4 years younger than Jennifer. So,
Jennifers present age is x+4. Now, were only told that in 10 years Louise will be
twice the age that Jennifer is now. Since, Louise is x years old now, she will be
x+10 years old in 10 years. But, this extra information tells us that she will ALSO
be 2(x+4) years old (twice what Jennifer is now). So, we know that:

x + 10 = 2( x + 4)
x + 10 = 2 x + 8
x=2
This gives us all the information we need. We now know that Louise is now 2
years old and Jennifer is now 6 years old.
Use a chart like the one above to solve the following problems:
1.

Mark is 3 years older than Jane. In 4 years, Mark will be 3/2 as old as
Jane. How old is Mark now?

2.

Lucy is 4 times as old as Amy. Three years ago, Lucy was 13 times as old
as Amy. How old is Lucy now?

3.

In 18 years, Jenny will be three times as old as she is now. How old is
she?

4.

8 years ago, Jimmy was three times as old as Anne. In 4 years, Jimmy will
be 3/2 of Annes age.

5.

Dustin is 11 years younger than Elias. In two years, Dustin will be half as
old as Elias. How old is Dustin?

6.

Shawn is 4/5ths as old now as he will be in 7 years. How old is he now?

7.

In 20 years, John will be 5 times as old as he is now. How old is he?

8.

Kim is 3 times as old as she was 2 years ago. How old is she?

9.

Jeff is two years younger than Carrie. 12 years ago, Carrie was twice as
old as Jeff. How old is Jeff now?

10.

Steve is twice as old as Sylvie. Sylvie is three years older than Jacob. 4
years ago, Sylvie was twice Jacobs age. How old is Sylvie?

http://math.about.com