Tom is 3 years older than Joan. Carly is 5 years younger than Joan. The sum of their ages is 193. Write an algebraic expression to express the ages of Tom, Joan, and Carly.

Question

Give the numerical value of each person’s age.

I’m sorry to bother you, however I’m lost as to how to solve this or even set up the problem.

Answer 1

So, you can write an expression to represent each person's age in terms of Joan's age.

J = J

T = 3 + J

C = J - 5

The sum of their ages is 193.

J + T + C = 193

J + (3 + J) + (J - 5) = 193

3J - 2 = 193

After you solve for J, substitute that value for all Js to find Tom and Carly's ages.

T = 3 + J

C = J - 5