Question

Bernard is two years older than his sister Therese and four years younger than his sister

Answer 1

Firstly Bernard = x

A) lets focus on Therese first. Bernard id two years older than her so for Therese’s equation in terms of x it would be x+2. Now for Josephine Bernard is 4 years younger than HER so it would be 4-x.

B) The mother is the PRODUCT of the sisters’ ages so (multiplication)

It would be like this: (x+2)(4-x)= 40 This is all in terms of x.

Solving for the equation (using distributive property) we get:

4x-x+8-2x=40

(Reorganize to group like terms, remember to go in order from the numeral numbers with variables, to variables only then numbers only): 4x-2x-x+8=40 (now combine like terms and simplify): x+8=40 this is his mom’s age in terms of x

C) HERE we can solve for x:

Isolating x to get the answer we move the 8 to the other side of the equation and it becomes a negative 8 so:

x=40-8

x=32

Therefore Bernard is 32 years old.

Hope this helps!