Question

ron is five years older than twice his cousin pat’s age. the sum of their ages is less than 35. what is the greatest age that pat could be?

Answer 1

Pat must be 14. for if he is fifteen, double his age plus 5 years would be 35. but their ages must be lower, so pat must be 14.

Answer 2

Let's take a random number. 9 for now.

So Ron is 5 years older than twice the age. So let's double 9.

That gives us 18.

Plus 5 and that would be 23, which would end up making Ron's age 23 and Pat's 9.

That gives us 32. That is the best you can get with the answers the test gives you, I just took it.