Question

Mary Del Mar is fourteen years older than Jake Jr. Eight years ago, Mary Del Mar was three times as old as Jake Jr. Find the present age of Mary Del Mar.

Answer 1

Mary Del Mar is presently 29 years old. The problem was solved by creating a system of equations based on the given age relationship and solving for Jake Jr.'s age first, then using it to determine Mary's age.

Step-by-step explanation:

Finding Mary Del Mar's Present Age

Let's denote Mary Del Mar's current age as M and Jake Jr.'s current age as J. According to the problem, Mary is fourteen years older than Jake, which can be expressed as:

M = J + 14

Furthermore, eight years ago, Mary Del Mar's age was three times Jake Jr.'s age. We can represent this situation with the following equation:

M - 8 = 3 × (J - 8)

Now we need to solve the system of equations. Let's substitute the value of M from the first equation into the second:

• (J + 14) - 8 = 3 × (J - 8)
• J + 6 = 3J - 24
• 2J = 30
• J = 15

Now that we know Jake Jr. is 15 years old, we can find Mary's age by adding fourteen years to Jake's age, giving us:

M = J + 14 = 15 + 14

M = 29

So, Mary Del Mar's present age is 29 years old.