My cousin, Ravi, is three times younger than me, but two and a half times older than my daughter. If our total ages are 66, how old is my cousin?

1 Answer
May 16, 2015

Writing r for Ravi's age, m for "my" age and d for "my daughter's" age, we are given:

r=m3

r=2.5d=(52)d

r+m+d=66

and we are trying to determine r.

Multiplying the first equation by 3 on both sides, we find m=3r.

Multiplying the second equation by 25 on both sides, we find d=(25)r

Substituting for m and d in the third equation, we find

66=r+m+d=r+3r+(25)r

=(1+3+(25))r

=(55+155+25)r

=(5+15+25)r

=(225)r

Multiplying both ends of this equation by (5/22) we get:

r=66×(522)=66×522=22×3×522=15

So Ravi is 15 years old. "my" age is 45 and "my daughter's" age is 6.