Question

Nick is 57 years old. Emily is 29 years old. How many years ago was Nick's age 3 times Emily's age?

Answer 1

Answer: 15 years ago

Explanation:

1. Create an equation using x as Emily's age and x+28 as Nick's age --> 3x=x+28
2. Solve the equation by using algebra:

• subtract x from both sides to get 2x=28
• divide both sides by 2 to get x =14

After doing this, we know that Emily's age was 14, so 29-14=15 years ago.

This works because of substitution. These problems are known as age problems and I recommend reading about them since they almost all use the same equations.