Question

Sarun is thrice as old as his sister Anita. If five years is subtracted (5) from Anita’s age and seven years added to Sarun’s age , then

Sarun will be five times Anita’s age. How old were they three years ago?

Answer 1

Answer: Let's start by using algebra to represent the given information.

If we let "a" be Anita's current age, then we know that Sarun's current age is 3a (since he is thrice as old as Anita).

According to the problem, if we subtract 5 years from Anita's age and add 7 years to Sarun's age, then Sarun will be 5 times Anita's age. In other words, we have the equation:

3a + 7 = 5(a - 5)

Simplifying and solving for a, we get:

3a + 7 = 5a - 25

32 = 2a

a = 16

So Anita is currently 16 years old, and Sarun is 3 times as old, or 48 years old.

To find out how old they were three years ago, we simply subtract 3 from their current ages:

Anita was 13 years old three years ago (16 - 3), and Sarun was 45 years old (48 - 3).

Explanation: