Question

The ages of three sisters are consecutive integers with the sum of 180. How old are each of the brothers?

Write and solve and equation the above situation describes.

Answer 1

Explanation:

The age of three sisters are consecutive integers meaning they are only one year apart.

E.g. sister 1 = x yrs old

Sister 2 = (x + 1) yrs old

Sister 3 = (x + 2) yrs old

They have a sum of 180 meaning if you add all 3 of their ages, you get a total of 180.

Sister 1 + sister 2 + sister 3 = 180

x + (x + 1) + (x + 2) = 180

So gather the like terms and you get:

3x + 3 = 180

Subtract 3 from both sides

3x = 180-3 = 177

Solve for x by dividing both sides by 3.

x = 177/3 = 59

So now we know what x is so you just plug it back into the equations at the beginning for the ages of each of the sisters.

Sister 1 = x = 59

Sister 2 = x + 1 = 59 + 1 = 60

Sister 3 = x + 2 = 59 + 2 = 61