Question

A father is 7 times as old as his son. The sum of their ages is 56 years. What is the age of each?

Answer 1

Answer:

The son is 7, the father is 49.

Step-by-step explanation:

This was a guess-and-check process. I knew this answer was correct because  7*7=49, and 49+7=56.

Answer 2

Answer: The father is 49 years old and the son is 7 years old

Step-by-step explanation: Let the son’s age be y and if the father is seven times as old as his son, then the father’s age would be expressed as 7 times y, or 7y.

Also the sum of their ages is 56 years which means son’s age plus father’s age equals 56. That is;

y + 7y = 56

8y = 56

Divide both sides of the equation by 8

y = 7

Therefore if y is 7, then

7y = 7(7)

7y = 49

Therefore it means the father is 49 years old while the son is 7 years old