Plsss Help me solve for the son's age!!!

Question

At the time Jay's son was born, Jay's age was twenty years less than twice his wife's age, and the sum of their ages was 64. If Jay was born in 1948, how old will his son be in 2001?

Answer 1

Let's start by figuring out how old Jay was when his son was born.

We'll say a = Jay's age and b = Jay's wife's age

Given the information, we'll write two equations:

1) a = 2b-20

This relates the wife's age to his age

2) a + b = 64

This represents the sum of their ages, as described in the problem.

Now, we can use the first equation with the substitution method. To do so, we'll use plug in "2b-20" for a in Equation 2. Equation 2 will now read as follows:

(2b-20) + b = 64

Let's use some algebra to solve for b now:

2b - 20 + b = 64

3b - 20 = 64 (STEP: 2b + b = 3b)

3b = 84 (STEP: Add 20 to both sides)

b = 28 (STEP: Divide both sides by 3)

Remember, b represents the wife's age. So, let's use one of the original equations to solve for Jay's age. I'll use #2:

a + b = 64

a + 28 = 64

a = 36 (STEP: Subtract 28 from both sides)

Jay was 36 when his son was born. Now, let's solve for his son's age. To do so, I'm going to start by using the years to figure out how old Jay will be in 2001.

2001 - 1948 = 53

Jay will be 53 years old in 2001. If Jay was 36 when his son was born, then his son's age can be solved by subtracting Jay's age at the birth from his 2001 age:

53 - 36 = 17

Jay's son will be 17 in 2001.

I hope this helps! Feel free to talk to me if you need more math help in the future!