Question

paul is six years older than corinne. ten years ago twice paul’s age was triple corinne’s age. how old is paul

Answer 1

Paul's age = 6 years + Corinne's age 

(Paul's age - 10 years) = 3 times (Corinne's age - 10 years) 


Let's rewrite it so it's cleaner: 


P = 6 + C 
P - 10 = 3(C - 10) 


Question is P = ? years. 

P = ? = 6 + C 

We need to know what C is... the second equation can tell us: 

P - 10 = 3C - 30 
P + 20 = 3C 
P/3 + 20/3 = C 

So now we know what C is... we can replace it into the first equation: 

P = 6 + [P/3 + 20/3] 

we just need to simplify now... it's easiest to get rid of the fractions first: 

3P = 18 + P + 20 

2P = 38 

P = 19 

Answer is Paul's age is now 19 years.