Question

Ronald was 1.5 times olderthan Megan. If Ronald was 27years old, how old is Megan?Write an equation to solve.

Answer 1

Solution:

Let x represent Ronald's age, and y represent Megan's age.

Thus,

$\begin{gathered} x\Rightarrow Ronald^{\prime}s\text{ age} \\ y\Rightarrow Megan^{\prime}s\text{ age} \end{gathered}$

Given that Ronald was 1.5 times older than Megan, we have the equation to be represented

$x=1.5y\text{ ---- equation 1}$

If Ronald was 27 years old, we have

$x=27$

Substituting the value of 27 for x into equation 1, we have

$\begin{gathered} 27=1.5y \\ solve\text{ for y by dividing both sides by the coefficient of y,} \\ \frac{27}{1.5}=\frac{1.5y}{1.5} \\ \Rightarrow y=18 \end{gathered}$

This implies that Megan's age is

$18\text{ years}$