Question

Rocco has a garden and an oak tree. The oak tree is 15 times as old as the garden. The sum of their ages is 128 years. How old is each the garden and tree?

Answer 1

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Answer:

• garden: 8 years
• tree: 120 years

Explanation:

Let g represent the age of the garden. Then the age of the tree is 15g. The sum of their ages is ...

g +15g = 128

16g = 128 . . . . . collect terms

g = 128/16 = 8 . . . . divide by the coefficient of g

The garden is 8 years old; the tree is 120 years old.