Question

in the ambrose family the ages of the three children are three consecutive even integers . if the age of the youngest child is represented by x + 3 write an eaqation to represent the oldest child.if the sum of the ages is 42 write an equation and solve for x. how old is the oldest child

Answer 1

The ages are consecutive even numbers.
The youngest child is (x+3) years old.
Every even number is 2 more than the one before it.
So the three ages are

(x + 3), (x + 5), and (x + 7).

Their sum is x+3 + x+5 + x+7 = 3x + 15

But we're told that their sum is 42, so we can write

3x + 15 = 42 <== the equation

Subtract 15 from each side: 3x = 27

Divide each side by 3 : x = 9 <== the solution

So the three ages are 12, 14, and 16.

The oldest child is 16 years old.