Question

Ashley was given the following problem and she drew a bar diagram to help her solve the problem.

Julie is 5 years younger than her sister, Molly. The sum of their ages is 37. How old is each sister?

Identify the error that Ashley made in creating her diagram and explain to her how to fix it.

Answer 1

Julie is 16 years old and Molly is 21 years old.

Explanation:

Given that Julie is 5 years younger than her sister, Molly, and the sum of their ages is 37, to determine how old is each sister the following calculation must be performed:

(37 - 5) / 2 = X

32/2 = X

16 = X

(16 + 5) + 16 = X

21 + 16 = X

37 = X

Therefore, Julie is 16 years old and Molly is 21 years old.