Question

Joan,s age is triple the age of her daughter. If Joan is 42 years old, how old is her daughter

Answer 1

Let us take the age of Joan’s daughter as x

Joan is triple the age of her daugter.
Thus, Joan = 3x (1)

Joan’s age is 42 (2)

Let’s combine 1 and 2

42=3x
x=42/3
x=14

Her daughter is 14 years old.

Answer 2

42 is 3 times 14.

Joan's daughter is 14 years old.

_____

If you know your times tables, you know 42 = 6·7. Since you're familiar with the associative property of multiplication, you know you can regroup the factors of this:

... 42 = 6·7 = (3·2)·7 = 3·(2·7) = 3·14

Of course, you can always simply divide 42 by 3 using your calculator or even long division.