Question

Maggie’s brother is three years younger than twice her age. The sum of their ages is 24. How old is maggie?

Answer 1

To solve this problem, we must set up a system of equations. In this case, let's let Maggie's age be represented by the variable m and her brother's age be represented by the variable b. We are told that the sum of their ages is 24, which gives us our first equation: m + b = 24. We can construct our next equation from the first sentence of given information: b = 2m - 3. This makes our system of equations:

m + b = 24

b = 2m - 3

To solve, we are going to substitute the value for b in terms of m given by the second equation into the first equation for the variable b.

m + b = 24

m + 2m - 3 = 24

To simplify, we must first combine the variable terms on the left side of the equation using addition.

3m - 3 = 24

Next, we should add 3 to both sides of the equation to get the variable term alone on the left side of the equation.

3m = 27

Finally, we should divide both sides by 3 in order to get the variable m alone.

m = 9

Therefore, Maggie is 9 years old (using the first equation and substituting in this value you can find that her brother is 15 years old).

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Take Maggie’s age as x
Then maggie’s brother’s age is 2x-3

Using the given data, form an equation
Maggie’s age + Her brother’s age = 24
x + 2x-3 = 24
3x= 27
x= 9

Hence Maggie is 9 years old :)