How old was he when she retired

Question

Sarah started school at the age of 5. she spent one quarter of her life being educated and went straight to work. After working for one half of her life,she lived fourteen years after retiring. How old was she when he retired

Answer 1

Since you know that three quarters of her life were while she was at school and work, the remaining quarter must be the time before she started school plus the time after she retired.  This means that one quarter of her life is 19 years, meaning she lived to be 76. She retired 14 years before she died, so she retired at 62 years old.

Answer 2

Hi Nick, Sarah spent 3/4 of her life either in school or working. That means 1/4 of her life remains to be accounted for and includes the time before she when to school, 5 years, and 14 years, the number of years she lived after retiring.

 

Therefore, 1/4 of Sarah's life represent 19 years, 5 + 14. If 19 years represents 1/4 of Sarah's life, 4/4 of her life must be 4 times 19 or 76 years.

 

Is this the answer? The answer is no. The question whats to know at what age Sarah retired. We know Sarah's total age, 76 years. We know she lived 14 years after retiring.

 

Therefore, Sarah was 62 years old when she retired, 76 - 14 = 62.

 

Question?

Answer 3

Sarah's life can be divided into:

 

Life before school + life being educated + life at work + retirement

 

Let A be her age when she died.

 

Life before school was given as 5years

Life being educated was given as being one quarter of her life = A/4

Life at work was given as being one half her life = A/2

retirement was given as 14 years

 

Then:

A = 5 + A/4 + A/2 + 14

A = 19 + 3/4A

A - 3/4 A = 19

A/4 = 19

A = 76 years

 

   This is how old she was when she died.  However, the question asks how old she was when she retired.  If she lived 14 years after retiring, then she retired at: A - 14

 

Since A=76, A-14 = 62 years.  Sarah was 62 years old when she retired.