Question

the sum of emma's age and her sister's age is 48 years. emma's age is 6 years less than twice her sister's age. what is emma's age, and what is her sister's age?

Answer 1

Let e represent Emma’s age and s represent Emma’s sister’s age.

e + s = 48

2s - 6 = e

2s - 6 + s = 48

3s - 6 = 48

We add 6 to both sides to eliminate it:

3s = 54

Finally, we divide both sides by the coefficient:

s = 18

Therefore, Emma’s sister is 18 years old. Let’s plug that in to find Emma’s age:

48 - 18 = 30

E = 30
S = 18

Therefore, Emma is 30 years old, and her sister is 18 years old.