Math Word Problems: Solving Age Problems Part 3

This is the third part of the Solving Age Problems of the Math Word Problem Solving Series. In this post, we discuss more complicated age word problems.

Problem 7

Anna who is 6 years old and his father Ben who is 27 years old have the same birthday. In how many years will Ben be twice as old as Anna?

Solution

As years go by, the number of years added to Ben’s and Anna’s ages is the same. If we let the number of years that have gone by be x, then in x years, their ages will be

Ben’s Age: 27 + x

Anna’s Age: 6 + x

Since in x years, Ben will be as twice as old as Anna, if we multiply Anna’s age by 2, their ages will be equal. So, we can now set up the equation » Read more