"Age" Word Problems 

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Age Word Problems

In January of the year 2000, I was one more than eleven times as old as my son William. In January of 2009, I was
seven more than three times as old as him. How old was my son in January of 2000?

Obviously, in "real life" you'd have walked up to my kid and and asked him how old he was, and he'd have proudly
held up three grubby fingers, but that won't help you on your homework. Here's how you'd figure out his age for class:

First, name things and translate the English into math: Let "E " stand for my age in 2000, and let "W "
stand for William's age. Then E = 11W + 1in the year 2000 (from "eleven times as much, plus another
one"). In the year 2009 (nine years after the year   ADVERTISEMENT
2000), William and I will each be nine years older,
so our ages will be E + 9 and W + 9. Also, I was
seven more than three times as old as William
was, so E + 9 = 3(W + 9) + 7 = 3W + 27 + 7 =
3W + 34. This gives you two equations, each
having two variables:  

E = 11W + 1 
E + 9 = 3W + 34

If you know how to solve systems of equations, you can proceed with those techniques. Otherwise, you can
use the first equation to simplify the second: since E = 11W + 1, plug "11W + 1 " in for "E " in the
second equation:

E + 9 = 3W + 34 

(11W + 1) + 9 = 3W + 34 
11W – 3W = 34 – 9 – 1 
8W = 24 
W = 3 

Remember that the problem did not ask for the value of the variable W; it asked for the age of a person. So the
answer is: William was three years old in January of 2000.

The important steps above were to set up the variables, labelling them all clearly with their definitions, and
then to increment the variables by the required amount (in this case, by 9) to reflect the passage of time.
Don't try to use the same expression to stand for two different things. If "E " stands for my age in 2000,
then "E " can not also stand for my age in 2009. Make sure that you are very explicit about this when you
set up your equations; write down the two sets of information (our ages at the first time, and then our ages
at the second time) as two distinct situations.

 In three more years, Miguel's grandfather will be six times as old as Miguel was last year.
When Miguel's present age is added to his grandfather's present age, the total is 68. How
old is each one now?   Copyright © Elizabeth Stapel 2000-2011 All Rights Reserved

This exercise refers not only to their present ages, but also to both their ages last year and their ages in
three years, so labelling will be very important. I will label Miguel's present age as "m" and his
grandfather's present age as "g". Then m + g = 68. Miguel's age "last year" was m – 1. His
grandfather's age "in three more years" will be g + 3. The grandfather's "age three years from
now" is six times Miguel's "age last year" or, in math:

g + 3 = 6(m – 1)

This gives me two equations with two variables:

m + g = 68 
g + 3 = 6(m – 1)

Solving the first equation, I get m =

68 – g. (Note: It's okay to solve for "g = 68 – m", too. The
problem will work out a bit differently in the middle, but the answer will be the same at the end.) I'll
plug "68 – g" into the second equation in place of "m":

g + 3 = 6m – 6 
g + 3 = 6(68 – g) – 6 
g + 3 = 408 – 6g – 6 
g + 3 = 402 – 6g 
g + 6g = 402 – 3 
7g = 399 
g = 57

Since "g" stands for the grandfather's current age, then the grandfather is 57 years old.
Since m + g = 68, then m = 11, and Miguel is presently eleven years old.

 One-half of Heather's age two years from now plus one-third of her age three years ago is
twenty years. How old is she now?

This problem refers to Heather's age two years in the future and three years in the past. So I'll pick a
variable and label everything clearly:
 age now:  H  
age two years from now:  H + 2  
age three years ago:  H – 3

Now I need certain fractions of these ages:

( 1/2 )(H + 2) = H/2 + 1 
one-half of age two years from now: 
one-third of age three years ago:  ( 1/3 )(H – 3) = H/3 – 1

The sum of these two numbers is twenty, so I'll add them and set this equal to 20:

H
/2 + 1 + H/3 – 1 = 20 
H
/2 + H/3 = 20 
3H + 2H = 120 
5H = 120 
H = 24

Heather is 24 years old.

Note: Remember that you can always check your answer to any "solving" exercise by plugging that answer back into
the original problem. If Heather is 24 now, then she will be 26 in two years, half of which is 13, and she
was 21 three years ago, a third of which is 7. Adding, I get 13 + 7 = 20, so the solution works.

"Here lies Diophantus," the wonder behold . . .

Through art algebraic, the stone tells how old:
"God gave him his boyhood one-sixth of his life,
One twelfth more as youth while whiskers grew rife;
And then yet one-seventh ere marriage begun;
In five years there came a bouncing new son.
Alas, the dear child of master and sage
After attaining half the measure of his fathers life
chill fate took him.
After consoling his fate by this science of numbers 
for four years, he ended his life."

Find Diophantus' age at death.

My first task is to "translate" the poetry from the headstone into practical terms:

o "Boyhood" can stand for pre-adolscent childhood; he spent one-sixth of his life in this
period.   Copyright © Elizabeth Stapel 2000-2011 All Rights Reserved
o "Youth while whiskers grew" can stand for pubescence (the teenage years, into young
adulthood); he spent one-twelfth of his life in this period.
o "Ere marriage began" can stand for "unmarried adulthood" or "bachelorhood"; he spent
one-seventh of his life in this period.
o He had five years between the wedding and the time his first child was born.
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o Tragically, this child died young,
living only half as long as his
father eventually would; looked at
the other way, half of Diophantus'
life was spent while his child was
alive.  
o Diophantus died four years after
burying his child.

I will let d stand for Diophantus' age at death. Then:

childhood: 
d
/6 
adolescence: d/12 
bachelorhood:  /   d
7

childless marriage:  5  
age of child at death: d/2  
life after child's death:  4

His whole life had been divided into intervals which, when added together, give the sum of his life. So I'll add
the lengths of those periods, set their sum equal to his (as-yet unknown) total age, and solve:

.d/6 + d/12 + d/7 + 5 + d/2 + 4 = d 

( 25/28 )d + 9 = d 
9 = d – ( 25/28 )d 
9 = ( 3/28 )d 
84 = d

Diophantus lived to be 84 years old.

You can check the answer if you like, by plugging "84" into the original problem. If he lived to be 84, then one-
sixth of his life is 14 years, one-twelfth of his life is 7 years (so he'd be 21, and he certainly should have a
beard by this age), one-seventh of his life is 12 years (so he didn't marry until he was 33 years old), his
child was born when he was 38, the boy died at 42 (when Diophantus was 80), and then Diophantus died
four years later.

Always try to label your variables and expressions clearly, as this will go a long way toward helping you get your
equations set up correctly. And remember that you can always check your answers (like I did on the last example
above); checking your answers is an especially good idea on tests.