Question

Pamela's age is three times Jiri's age. The sum of their ages is 60. What is Jiri's age?

Answer 1

15

Explanation:

We can represent Pamela's age as p for now, and Jiri's age as j. The info given says that their ages combined equal 60. Written down, this is:

p + j = 60

Another piece of information is given: Pamela is three times older than Jiri. In other words, Jiri's age three times is equal to Pamela's. We can write this as:

3j = p

Now that in one of the equations, p is isolated, we can substitute in one of them. We can substitute p in the first equation for 3j, because they are equal.

(3j) + j = 60

Combining them gives:

4j = 60

Now we have to divide both sides by four, giving:

j = 15

It's not asking for Pamela's age, so this is the final answer.