Question

Sharon is the youngest in her family. Her sister Anne is 3 years older than she is. Her brother Tom is 5 years older than Anne. The sum of their ages is 62. How old is Sharon?

Answer 1

We represent Sharon's age by S; let Anne's age be A and Tom's age be T. In this case, the second statement is represented by A = 3 + S. The third statement is T = 5 + A. The fourth statement is represented by T + S + A = 62Solving the four equations: T = 25, S = 17, and A = 20. Hence Sharon's age is 17.