Maggie's brother is 12 years younger than three times her age. The sum of their ages is 48. How old is maggie?

Answer 1

Maggie's brother is 12 years younger than three times her age.

The sum of their ages is 48. How old is maggie?

Define

Maggie's Age = M

Brother's Age = B

B = 3M -12

M= (B+12)/3

B + M = 48

3M-12 + M = 48

4M= 48 +12

4M= 60

M= 60/4 = 15

Maggie's Age = 15

Answer 2

Hi Valeria -

Here's how I would approach the problem.

First, we set our variable, X, equal to Maggie's Age.

Next, we use this variable to translate the question from English into an equation -

3 times Maggie's age, X, minus 12, equals her brother's age. --> 3X - 12 = her brother's age.

So Maggie's age, X, plus her brother's age, 3X - 12, equals 48.

Our equation looks like this: (3X - 12) + X = 48.

From here, we solve by adding like terms and balancing the equation.

3X - 12 + X = 48

4X - 12 = 48

4X = 60

X = 15.

We can verify this by substitution.

3(15) - 12 + 15 = 48

48=48

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

If we let x represent Maggie's age, then we can say that her brother is:

3x -12 (because her brother is 12 years younger than three times her age)

Then we can add the two expressions together (sum indicates addition) and set the total equal to 48:

3x - 12 + x = 48

If we combine like terms, we get:

4x - 12 = 48

Next solve the equation using inverses operations (i.e. add 12 to both sides of the equation , then divide both sides of the equation by 4):

4x - 12 + 12 = 48 + 12

4x = 60

4x/4 = 60/4

Then x = 15 years old

Maggie would be 15 years old because we had x represent Maggie's age at the start.

Answer 4

Maggie's brother is 12 years younger than three times her age. The sum of their ages is 48. How old is maggie?

=>

Maggie's age = x

three times her age= 3x

Maggie's brother age=3x -12

x +3x-12 =48

4x =60

x =15

Maggie's age = x=15