Start with
We observe that both fractions are not defined if . So, we will assume
.
We multiply both numerator and denominator of the first fraction by 3 and we sum the two fractions:
We multiply both sides by :
We move everything to one side and solve the quadratic equation:
We check the solution:
which is true
Answer:
41 years old.
Step-by-step explanation:
Let x represent age of younger child.
We have been given that a mother has two children whose ages differ by 5 years. So the age of older child would be .
The sum of the squares of their ages is 97. We can represent this information in an equation as:
Let us solve for x.
Divide both sides by 2:
Since age cannot be negative, therefore, age of younger child is 4 years.
Age of older child would be
Therefore, the age of older child would be 9 years.
We have been given that the square of the mother's age can be found by writing the squares of the children's ages one after the other as a four-digit number.
Square of 4:
Square of 9: .
Square of mother's age:
To find mother's age, we need to take positive square root of 1681 as:
Therefore, the mother is 41 years old.