105k views
5 votes
1 year ago, Clot is one-third as old as his 4 times old as Soup. Another 1 year from now, the sum of their ages is 21. Find the present age.

1 Answer

1 vote

Answer: Let's use algebra to solve this problem.

Let C be Clot's present age and S be Soup's present age. Then, according to the problem:

One year ago, Clot was C-1 years old, and four times Soup's age at that time was 4(S-1).

Clot's age one year ago was one-third of four times Soup's age, so we have:

C - 1 = (1/3) * 4(S - 1)

Simplifying this equation, we get:

C - 1 = (4/3)(S - 1)

C = (4/3)(S - 1) + 1

One year from now, Clot will be C + 1 years old, and Soup will be S + 1 years old. The sum of their ages will be 21, so we have:

(C + 1) + (S + 1) = 21

C + S + 2 = 21

C + S = 19

Now we have two equations with two unknowns. We can substitute the expression for C from the first equation into the second equation to get an equation in terms of S:

(4/3)(S - 1) + 1 + S = 19

Simplifying and solving for S, we get:

S = 6

Substituting S = 6 into the equation C + S = 19, we get:

C + 6 = 19

C = 13

Therefore, Clot's present age is 13 and Soup's present age is 6.

Explanation:

User Mayank Kumar
by
8.0k points

No related questions found

Welcome to QAmmunity.org, where you can ask questions and receive answers from other members of our community.

9.4m questions

12.2m answers

Categories