Mrs. West is 14 years younger than her aunt. If Mrs. West's age in years is as much below 60 as her aunt's age is over 40, how old is each?

Question

Can't figure out how to write the equation to this problem.

Answer 1

I would start off writing as many equation statements as you can to help you create the final solution to this problem. 

 

First let's start with 'Mrs. West is 14 years younger than her aunt.'  The best way to write such a statement into a formula is to have two variables to represent these two people, Mrs. West (we'll use W for her) and the Aunt (we can use A for her).  Next the statement '14 years younger' means that whatever values W and A are, there must be a difference of 14 between the two variables.

 

Here is a separate example, let's say "Aaron will always have 3 less candies than Bob". 

If Aaron had 8 candies and will have 3 less than Bob, then that means 8 - 3 = 5, so Bob would have 5 candies.

If Aaron had 10 candies and will have 3 less than Bob, then that means 10 - 3 = 7, so Bob will have 7 candies.

If Aaron had 25 candies and will STILL have 3 less than Bob, then 25 - 3 = 22, so Bob would have 22 candies.

 

If you notice the pattern between 8 - 3 = 5; 10 - 3 = 7; and 25 - 3 = 22; all three equations have a "-3" in the same location due to the statement '3 less candies', the first number is whatever Aaron holds and the last number is whatever Bob holds.  For whatever Aaron holds we can represent that as the variable A, and for Bob we can use B.  So in the end we get the equation A - 3 = B

 

Now think back to your equation, "Mrs. West is 14 years younger than her aunt" and see if you can make the first equation to that statement.  As for the "If Mrs. West's age in years is as much below 60 as her aunt's age is over 40" statement I would break that up into two equations, one for the number of years that Mrs. West must be less than 60, and for her aunt that must be more than 40.

 

Tell me if you need any more help and good luck!