Equation Problems of Age

Equations are a convenient way to represent conditions or relations between two or more
quantities. An equation could have one, two or more unknowns. The basic rule is that if the
number of unknowns is equal to the number of conditions, then these equations are solvable,
otherwise not. We will see some important examples here but first, let us see the following
tricks.

If the age of a person is ‘x’, then ‘n’ years after today, the age = x + n. Similarly, n years in the
past, the age of this would have been x – n years.

Example 1: A father and his son decide to sum their age. The sum is equal to sixty years. Six
years ago the age of the father was five times the age of the son. Six years from now the son’s
age will be:

A) 23 years B) 19 years C) 20 years D) 22 years

Answer: Suppose that the present age of the son is = x years. Then the father’s age is (60 -x)
years. Notice that we are trying to reduce the problem into as few variables as possible. As per
the second condition of the question, we have:

The age of the father six years ago = (60 – x) – 6 years = 54 – x years.

Similarly the age of the son six years ago will be x – 6 years. Therefore as per the second
condition, we have;

54 – x = 5(x – 6) or 54 – x = 5x – 30 and we can write 6x = 84

Hence, we have x = 14 years. Thus the son’s age after 6 years = (x+ 6) = (14 + 6) = 20 years.
Hence the correct option is C) 20 years.

More Solved Examples

Example 2: The difference in the age of two people is 20 years. If 5 years ago, the elder one of
the two was 5 times as old as the younger one, then their present ages are equal to:

A) 20 and 30 years respectively

B) 30 and 10 years respectively

C) 15 and 35 years respectively

D) 32 and 22 years respectively

Answer: The first step is to find the equation. Let the age of the younger person be x. Then the
age of the second person will be (x + 20) years. Five years ago their ages would have been x – 5
years and x + 20 years. Therefore as per the question, we have: 5 (x – 5) = (x + 20 – 5) or 4x =
40 or x = 10.
Therefore the ages are 10 years for the younger one and (10 + 20) years = 30 years for the elder
one.

Example 3: Yasir is fifteen years elder than Mujtaba. Five years ago, Yasir was three times as
old as Mujtaba. Then Yasir’s present age will be:

A) 29 years B) 30 years C) 31 years D) 32 years

Answer: Let the age of Yasir be = x years. Then the age of Mujtaba will be equal to x – 15 years.
Now let us move on to the second condition. Five years ago the age of Yasir will be equal to x –
5 years. Also, the age of Mujtaba five years ago will be x – 15 – 6 years = x – 21 years. As per
the question, we have:

3(x – 21) = x – 5 or 3x – 63 = x – 5. Therefore we have: 2x = 58 and hence x = 29 years.

Therefore Yasir’s present age is 29 years and the correct option is A) 29 years.

Example 4: Ten years ago, the age of a person’s mother was three times the age of her son. Ten
years hence, the mother’s age will be two times the age of her son. The ratio of their present ages
will be:

A) 10:19 B) 9: 5 C) 7: 4 D) 7: 3

Answer: Let the age of the son ten years ago be equal to x years. Therefore the age of the mother
ten years ago will be equal to 3x. Following this logic, we see that the present age of the son will
be equal to x + 10 years and that of the mother will be equal to 3x + 10 years.

The second condition says that ten years from the present, the mother’s age will be twice that of
her son. After ten year’s the mother’s age will be 3x + 10 + 10 years and that of the son will be x
+ 10 + 10 years. As per the question we have:

(3x + 10) +10 = 2 [(x + 10) + 10] or (3x + 20) = 2[x + 20]. In other words, we can write:
x = 20 years. Thus the present age of the mother = 3(20) + 10 = 70 years. Also the present age of
the son = 20 + 10 = 30 years. Thus the ratio is 7:3 and the correct option is D) 7:3.

Practice Questions
Q 1: The age of a man is 24 years more than his son. In two years, the father’s age will be twice
that of his son. Then the present age of his son is:
A) 18 years B) 21 years C) 22 years D) 24 years

Ans: C) 22 years.

Q 2: After 15 years Ramesh’s age will be 5 times his age 5 years ago. What is the present age of
Ramesh?
A) 5 years B) 10 years C) 15 years D) 20 years

Ans: B) 10 years

Age Problems Practice Questions

Age Problems Practice Questions are very frequent when it comes to competitive exams. After
you have gone through the section on Age-related problems, you should move to this section on
the Age Problems Practice Questions. This will provide you with the necessary practice and also
serve as a self-evaluation section. Solving as many practice problems as you can is very
important. Let us see in the following section!

Age Problems Practice Questions

Part A

Q1: Tanya’s grandfather was 8 times older to her 16 years ago. He would be 3 times her age 8
years from now. Eight years ago, what was the ratio of Tanya’s age to that of her grandfather?
[SSC 2003]

A) 1:2 B) 1: 5 C) 3: 8 D) None of these

Q2: The age of father 10 years ago was thrice the age of his son. Ten years hence, father’s age
will be twice that of his son. the ratio of their present ages is: [LIC, 2003]

A) 5: 2 B) 7 : 3 C) 9: 2 D) 13: 4

Q3: Four years ago, the father’s age was three times the age of his son. The total of the ages of
the father and the son after four years will be 64 years. What is the father’s age at present?
A) 32 years B) 36 years C) 44 years D) Data inadequate
E) None of these

Q4: One year ago, Promila was four times as old as her daughter Sakshi. Six years hence,
Promila’s age will exceed her daughter’s age by 9 years. The ratio of the present ages of Promila
and her daughter is:

A) 9: 2 B) 11: 3 C) 12: 5 D) 13: 4

Q5: The sum of the present ages of a father and his son is 60 years. Six years ago, father’s age
was five times the age of the son. After 6 years, son’s age will be: [RRB 2000]

A) 12 years B) 14 years C) 18 years D) 20 years

Q6: Q is as much younger than R as he is older than T. If the sum of the ages of R and T is 50
years, what is definitely the difference between R and Q’s age? [Bank PO 1999]

A) 1 year B) 2 years C) 25 years D) Data inadequate E)

None of these.

Find Your Answers Here

Q1: D), Q2: B), Q3: E), Q4: D), Q5: D), Q6: D)

Part B

Q1: The age of a man is three times the sum of the ages of his two sons. Five years hence, his
age will be double the sum of the ages of his sons. the father’s present age is:

A) 40 years B) 45 years C) 50 years D) 55 years

Q2: The sum of the ages of a father and his son is 45 years. Five years ago, the product of their
ages was 34. The ages of the son and the father are respectively:

A) 6 and 39 B) 7 and 38 C) 9 and 36 D) 11 and 34

Q3: Rajan got married 8 years ago. His present age is 6/5 times his age at the time of his
marriage. Rajan’s sister was 10 years younger to him at the time of his marriage. The age of
Rajan’s sister is: [UPSC 2003]

A) 32 years B) 36 years C) 38 years D) 40 years

Q4: The sum of the ages of 5 children born at the intervals of 3 years each is 50 years. What is
the age of the youngest child? [SSC 2000]

A) 4 years B) 8 years C) 10 years None of these.

Q5: Father is aged three times more than his son Rohit. After 8 years, he would be two and a half
times of Ronit’s age. After further 8 years, how many times would he be of Ronit’s age? [CBI
1998]

A) 2 times B) 2(1/2) times C) 2(3/4) times D) 3 times.

Find Your Answers Here

Q1: B), Q2: A), Q3: C), Q4: A), Q5: A)

Part C

Q1: If 6 years are subtracted from the present age of Gagan and the remainder is divided by 18,
then the present age of his grandson Anup is obtained. If Anup is 2 years younger to Madan
whose age is 5 years, then what is Gagan’s present age?

A) 48 years B) 60 years C) 84 years D) 96 years

Q2: Ayesha’s father was 38 years of age when she was born while her mother was 36 years old
when her brother four years younger to her was born. What is the difference between the ages of
her parents?

A) 2 years B) 4 years C) 6 years D) 8 years

Q3: My brother is 3 years elder to me. My father was 28 years of age when my sister was born
while my mother was 26 years of age when I was born. if my sister was 4 years of age when my
brother was born, then what was the age of my father and mother respectively when my brother
was born?

A) 32 years, 23 years B) 32 years, 29 years C) 35 years, 29 years D)

35 years, 33 years

Q4: A person was asked to state his age in years. His reply was, “Take my age three years hence,
multiply it by 3 and then subtract three times my age three years ago and you will know how old
I am.” What was the age of the person? [SSC 2004]
A) 18 years B) 20 years C) 24 years D) 32 years.

Find Your Answers Here

Q1: B), Q2: C), Q3: A), Q4: A)

Ratio-Based Age Problems

We may define the ratio of two quantities as the quantitative relation between their two amounts
that tells us the number of times one of these quantities contains the other. We can get the ratio
of any two quantities by dividing them with each other until we get prime numbers on both the
numerator and the denominator or at least on one of them. For example, if ‘m’ is any quantity
and ‘n’ is another quantity then the ratio of m and n, which we pronounce as m” is to” n is = m/n
and we write it as m:n. This ratio gives the comparison in terms of the magnitude of the two
quantities.

Let us now focus on the problems of age, in particular, the ratio-based word problems. Let us
start with a simple example.

Example 1: A brother and a sister decide to find the ratio of their ages. The ratio comes out to be
4:5 respectively. Which of the two is the elder one?

Answer: This is a straightforward question to make you better understand the concept of ratios.
Let x denote the age of the brother and y denote the age of the sister. The as per the question, the
ratio is x/y = 4/5. upon cross-multiplication, we have: 5x = 4y or in other words y > x. Thus the
sister is the elder one.

Solved Examples On Age

Part I

Example 2: The ratio of the age of a person A and another person B is 1:3. If the person A is 5
years younger than the person B, then what are their ages?

A) 2 and 7 years respectively

B) 7 and 2 years respectively

C) Two and a half and seven and a half years respectively

D) Seven and a half and two years respectively

Answer: Let A denote the age of the person A and B denote the age of the person B. As per the
questions, the age of person A/B = 1/3.

Also as per the second condition, we have A = B – 5, using this in the above ratio, we have:

(B – 5)/B = 1/3 or 3B – 15 = B

Hence we have 2B = 15 or B = 7.5. Therefore the age of the second person B is 7 and a half
years. Thus from the second condition i.e. A = B – 5 or A = 7.5 – 5 = 2.5, we can say that the age
of the first person or A is two and a half years. Therefore the correct option is C) Two and a half
and seven and a half years respectively

In this question you have to realize that only the ratio is not sufficient to predict the exact ages of
the two people, rather we need to know some other condition too. Let us see another example.

Part II

Example 2: Some six years ago, the ratio of the ages of Khan and Suhail was 6:5. Four years
from today, the ratio of their ages will be 11:10. Then Suhail must be _______ years old.
A) 18 years B) 12 years C) 19 years D) 16 years

Answer: For simplicity, we shall assume that six years ago the age of Khan was 6x and the age
of Suhail was 5x, where ‘x’ is an unknown variable. Let us see the first condition of the question.
The ratio of their ages was 6:5 or 6x:5x respectively. For the second condition of the question,
we will have to find the present age first.

The present age of Khan is 6x + 6 and that of Suhail is 5x + 6 respectively. Four years into the
future, their ages will be 6x + 10 and 5x + 10 years respectively. Hence as per the second
condition, we have:

(6x + 10)/(5x + 10) = 11/10 or 60x + 100 = 55x + 110.

We can write this as 5x = 10 or x = 2. Therefore the age of Suhail at the present must be = 5(2) +
6 = 16 years. Hence the correct option here is D) 16 years.

Practice Problems
Q 1: Khan and Shoaib decide to take a ratio of their ages. It comes out to be 5:4 respectively.
Three years from now, the ratio of their ages will be 11 : 9 respectively. What is Shoaib’s present
age in years?

A) 37 years B) 27 years C) 46 years D) Cannot be

determined E) None of these

Ans: A) 37 years

Q 2: Today the ratio of the ages of Desai and Shinde is 4:3. Six years hence, Desai’s age will be
26 years. How old is Shinde today?

A) 10 years B) 15 years C) 20 years D) 25 years

Ans: B) 15 years

-------------------------=-------------------------=----------------------------=------------------------------=----------------------=

Proportion Based Age Problems

Let us first see what a proportion is. Suppose the age of your father is 60 years. And let us
suppose that the age of your brother is one third the age of your father. What is the age of your
brother then? The answer is simple. First, you need to see what the proportion here is. The age of
your brother is proportionate to the age of your father. Therefore we can say that the age of your
brother is = 1/3[60] = 20 years.

Example 1: There are two people A and B. The difference between their ages is 16 years. If 6
year ago, the elder one was 3 times as old the younger one, find their present ages:
A)

Answer: Let the age of the younger person be = x years. Therefore the age of the older person
will be x + 16 years. Notice that we have not used a different variable for the second person.
Now let us move on to the second part of the question.

Six years ago the younger one would be x – 6 years old and the elder one would be (x + 16 – 6)
years old. As per the question we have:

x + 16 – 6 = 3[x – 6] or x + 10 = 3x – 18.

Therefore we can write, 2x = 28 or x = 14 years old. Thus the age of the elder person will be 14
+ 16 = 30 years.

Now let us practice this a bit. If your brother’s age is also proportional to your age, can we find
your age? Let us say that your brother is half the age that you are. Then what is your age? Your
age is twice the age of your brother which makes you forty years old. Now that we have an idea
about how proportions work, let us see some solved examples from this section.

Learn Ratio Based Age Problems here.

Solved Examples
Example 2: Khan’s age fifteen years from now will be five times his age 5 years ago. What is the
present age of Khan?
A) 10 years B) 14 years C) 13 years D) 8 years

Answer: Let the present age of Khan be equal to x years. Then Khan’s age fifteen years from
now is x + 15 years. Five years ago Khan’s age would have been equal to x – 5 years. Now that
we have represented all the conditions let us formulate the equations.

From the question, we have (x + 15) = 5×(x – 5). In other words, we can write 5x – x = 15 + 25.
Thus we have, 4x = 40 or x = 10 years. Therefore the present age of Khan is 10 years and the
correct option here is A) 10 years.

We can solve the above question in another way too. We could have said that the age of Khan
fifteen years from now be x. That will mean that the present age of Khan will be x – 15 years.
This is essentially the same equation but will be a bit lengthier. To get a consistency with your
methods, you should always select the present age as = x years and work your way up from
there.

Example 3: Khan’s father says to Khan, “Son! I was as old as you are at the present at the time of
your birth”. If Khan’s father’s age is 38 years now, then the son’s age five years back was:

A) 19 years B) 14 years C) 13 years D) 38 years

Answer: Let the present age of Khan’s father be equal to x years. The present age of Khan’s
father is 38 years. So at the time of the birth of Khan, his father would be (38 – x) years old. As
per the question, we have:

x = (38 – x) or in other words we can write, 2x = 38 or x = 19 years. So the present age of Khan
is 19 years and thus his age five years ago would have been 19 – 5 years = 14 years. Thus the
correct option is B) 14 years.

Learn Equation Problems of Age here.

Practice Questions
Q 1: A person A is two years older than another person B. The person B is twice as old as a third
person C. The sum of the total ages of the three people is 27 years, then how old is B?

A) 10 years B) 11 years C) 12 years D) 13 years

Ans: A) 10 years.

Q 2: The present age of a person is two-fifths of the age of his mother. Eight years hence, his age
will be half the age of his mother. What is the present age of the mother?

A) 30 years B) 40 years C) 50 years D) 60 years

Ans: B) 40 years

Q 3: Ten years ago, some person P was half the age of another person Q. If the ratio of the
present ages of the two people is 3:4, then the sum of the ages will be:

A) 25 years B) 30 years C) 35 years D) 40 years

Ans: C) 35 years

How to solve Age Problems Involving A Single Person?

Example:

Five years ago, John’s age was half of the age he will be in 8 years. How old is he now?

Solution:

Step 1: Let x be John’s age now. Look at the question and put the relevant expressions above it.
Step 2: Write out the equation.

Isolate variable x

Answer: John is now 18 years old.

How to use Algebra to solve age problems?

Examples:
1. Ten years from now, Orlando will be three times older than he is today. What is his current age?

2. In 20 years, Kayleen will be four times older than she is today. What is her current age?

 Show Step-by-step Solutions

How to solve Age Problems Involving More Than One Person?

Example:

John is twice as old as his friend Peter. Peter is 5 years older than Alice. In 5 years, John will be
three times as old as Alice. How old is Peter now?

Solution:

Step 1: Set up a table.

age now age in 5 yrs

John
Peter
Alice

Step 2: Fill in the table with information given in the question.

John is twice as old as his friend Peter. Peter is 5 years older than Alice. In 5 years, John will be
three times as old as Alice. How old is Peter now?

Let x be Peter’s age now. Add 5 to get the ages in 5 yrs.

age now age in 5 yrs

John 2x 2x + 5
Peter x x+5
Alice x–5 x–5+5

Write the new relationship in an equation using the ages in 5 yrs.

In 5 years, John will be three times as old as Alice.

2x + 5 = 3(x – 5 + 5)
2x + 5 = 3x

Isolate variable x

x=5

Answer: Peter is now 5 years old.

Example:

John’s father is 5 times older than John and John is twice as old as his sister Alice. In two years
time, the sum of their ages will be 58. How old is John now?

Solution:

Step 1: Set up a table.

age now age in 2 yrs

John’s father
John
Alice

Step 2: Fill in the table with information given in the question.

John’s father is 5 times older than John and John is twice as old as his sister Alice. In two years
time, the sum of their ages will be 58. How old is John now?

Let x be John’s age now. Add 2 to get the ages in 2 yrs.

 age now age in 2 yrs
John’s father 5x 5x + 2
John x x+2
Alice

Write the new relationship in an equation using the ages in 2 yrs.

In two years time, the sum of their ages will be 58.

Answer: John is now 8 years old.

How to solve word problems with multiple ages?

Example:
Ben is eight years older than Sarah. 10 years ago, Ben is twice as old as Sarah. Currently, how old is Ban
and Sarah?

 Show Step-by-step Solutions

Algebra word problems with multiple ages

Example:
Mary is three times as old as her son. In 12 years, Mary's age will be one year less than twice her son's
age. How old is each now?

 Show Step-by-step Solutions

Algebra word problem with past and present ages

Example:
Arun is 4 times as old as Anusha is today. Sixty years ago, Arun was 6 times as old as Anusha. How old
are they today?

 Show Step-by-step Solutions

Algebra age word problem with past, present, and future ages
How to organize the data using a table and solve using a system of linear equations?
Examples:
1. Sally is 3 times as old as John. 8 years from now, Sally will be twice as old as John. How old is John?

2. Kim is 6 years more than twice Timothy's age. 2 years ago, Kim was three times as old as Timothy.
How old was Kim 2 years ago?

3. Leah is 2 less than 3 times Rachel's age. 3 years from now, Leah will be 7 more than twice Rachel's
age. How old will Rachel be in 3 years from now?

4. Becca is twice as old as Susan and Greg is 9 years older than Susan. 3 years ago, Becca was 9 less than
3 times Susan's age. How old is Greg now?

5. Lauren is 3 less than twice Andrew's age. 4 years from now, Sam will be 2 more than twice Andrew's
age. 5 years ago, Sam was three times Andrew's age. How old was Lauren 5 years ago?

6. Gabby is 1 year more than twice Larry's age. 3 years from now, Megan will be 27 less than twice
Gabby's age. 4 years ago, Megan was 1 year less than 3 times Larry's age. How old will Megan be 3 years
from now?

Age Problems Involving More Than One Person

Example:
John is twice as old as his friend Peter. Peter is 5 years older than Alice. In 5 years, John will be
three times as old as Alice. How old is Peter now?

Solution:
Step 1: Set up a table.

Step 2: Fill in the table with information given in the question.

John is twice as old as his friend Peter. Peter is 5 years older than Alice. In 5 years, John will be
three times as old as Alice. How old is Peter now?

Let x be Peter’s age now. Add 5 to get the ages in 5 yrs.

Write the new relationship in an equation using the ages in 5 yrs.

In 5 years, John will be three times as old as Alice.

2x + 5 = 3(x – 5 + 5)
2x + 5 = 3x

Isolate variable x

x=5

Answer: Peter is now 5 years old.

Example:
John’s father is 5 times older than John and John is twice as old as his sister Alice. In two years
time, the sum of their ages will be 58. How old is John now?

Solution:
Step 1: Set up a table.

Step 2: Fill in the table with information given in the question.

John’s father is 5 times older than John and John is twice as old as his sister Alice. In two years
time, the sum of their ages will be 58. How old is John now?
Let x be John’s age now. Add 2 to get the ages in 2 yrs.

Write the new relationship in an equation using the ages in 2 yrs.

In two years time, the sum of their ages will be 58.

Answer: John is now 8 years old.

The following videos show more examples of algebra age problems:

Example:
Mary is 3 times as old as her son. In 12 years, Mary's age will be one year less than twice her son's age.
Find their ages now.

Note that this problem requires a chart to organize the information. The rows of the chart can be
labeled as Mary and Son, and the columns of the chart can be labeled as "age now" and "age in 12
years". The chart is then used to set up the equation.

 Show Step-by-step Solutions

Examples:
1. Soo is 8 years older than Marco. In four years, Soo will be twice as old as Marco. How old is Soo?

2. The sum of Abbie's age and Iris's age is 42 years old. 11 years ago, Abbie was three times as old as Iris.
How old will Abbie be in two years?
  Show Step-by-step Solutions

Examples:
1. Sue is 5 years younger than Brian. In 7 years, the sum of their ages will be 49 years. How old is each
now?

2. Maria is 10 years older than Sonia. Eight years ago, Maria was 3 times Sonia's age. How old is each
now?

 Show Step-by-step Solutions

Examples:
1. The sum of the ages of a man and his son is 82 years. How old is each, if 11 years ago, the man was
twice his son's age?

2. The sum of the ages of a woman and her daughter is 38 years. How old is each, if the woman will be
triple her daughter's age in 9 years?

 Show Step-by-step Solutions

Examples:
1. Salman is 108 years old. Jonathan is 24 years old. How many years will it take for Salman to be exactly
four times as old as Jonathan?

2. Tarush is five times as old as Arman is today. 85 years ago, Tarush was 10 times as old as Arman. How
old is Arman today?

 Show Step-by-step Solutions

Example:
Zack is four times as old as Salman. Zack is also three years older than Salman. How old is Zack?

 Show Step-by-step Solutions

You can use the free Mathway calculator and problem solver below to practice Algebra or other math
topics. Try the given examples, or type in your own problem and check your answer with the step-by-
step explanations.