Question

Maggie’s brother is 3 years younger than twice her age. The sum of their ages is 24. How old is Maggie?

Answer 1

Ok so your going to subtract 24-3 and you should get you answer of how old Maggie is.

Answer 2

Maggie is 9

Explanation:

Let's denote Maggie's age with x and his brother's with y.

First we know that the sum of their ages is 24, so

x+y=24

Then we know that y=2x-3, Maggie's brother (y) is 3 years younger (-3) than twice her age (2x)

Then with these two equations we have

x+y=24

y=2x-3

we can replace y of the second equation into the first and solve for x (Maggie's age)

x+2x-3=24

3x=27

x=9

so we get Maggie's age x=9. Replacing it into the second equation we get her brothers age also y=15.