Question

a man is 3 times as old as his son . the sum of their ages is 48 years .how old is the son ? how old is the dad?

Answer 1

son is 12

dad is 36

Explanation:

Say the son is x years old.

Then the father is 3x. Also 3x+x must be 48.

So 4x = 48 => x= 48/4 = 12

Answer 2

Let x be how old the son is. We know that the dad is 3 times older and their sum is 48. Creating an equation to represent this situation gives us:

`x+3x=48`

`4x=48`

Divide both sides by 4

`x=12`

The son is 12 years old, but we want to find the age of the dad. Since we know the dad is 3 times older, multiply 12 with 3

`12 * 3 = 36`

The dad is 36 years old. Let me know if you need any clarifications, thanks!