Marleen is three years older than Ned and two years younger than Carla. Carla's age is equal to the sum of the ages of Ned and Marleen. How old is Marleen now??

Answer 1

Hi Eva,

Let's use the variable, m , to represent Marleen's age, the variable, n , to represent Ned's age, and the variable, c, to represent Carla's age.

Then we can write the following equations for Marleen's age:

m = n+ 3

m = c -2

We can also write the following equation for Carla's age:

c = n + m

Now we can solve for m by rewriting the equations as follows:

n = m -3

c = m + 2

Then using the sum for Carla's age and substituting:

m+ 2 = m - 3 + m

m + 2 = 2m - 3

m + 2 - 2 = 2m - 3 -2

m = 2m -5

m-2m = 2m - 5 - 2m

-m = -5

m =5

Marleen is 5 years old.

Ned is 2 years old.

Carla is 7 years old.