Question

in the ambrose family the ages of the three children are three consecutive even integers . if the age of the youngest child is represented by x + 3 write an eaqation to represent the oldest child.if the sum of the ages is 42 write an equation and solve for x. how old is the oldest child

Answer 1

The ages are consecutive even numbers.
The youngest child is  (x+3) years old.
Every even number is 2 more than the one before it.
So the three ages are

           (x + 3),  (x + 5),  and  (x + 7).

Their sum is    x+3  +  x+5  +  x+7  =  3x + 15

But we're told that their sum is  42, so we can write

                                              3x + 15 = 42  <== the equation

Subtract 15 from each side:  3x         =  27

Divide each side by  3 :          x         =   9    <== the solution

So the three ages are  12,  14,  and  16.

The oldest child is  16  years old.