A teacher has two students, one two times as old as the other. The teacher is five times as old as the older student, and in 5 years she will be five times as old as her younger student. Find the teacher’s present age.
Question
Answer:
Letx: age of the teacher.
y: age of the oldest student.
z: youngest student's age
We can solve the problem with the following system of equations:
y = 2z
x = 5y
x + 5 = 5z
Solving for x:
z = y / 2
y = x / 5
Thus
z = (x / 5) / 2
z = x / 10
Then,
x + 5 = 5 (x / 10)
x + 5 = x / 2
(1/2) x = -5
x = -10
y = -2
z = -1
answer
the teacher's present age is -10
Note: the problem does not make much physical sense (but mathematically it has no problem)
solved
general
11 months ago
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