An Age Old Problem

Question

Mrs Ismail was 4 times as old as her daughter 5 years ago. How old is Mrs Ismail now if the sum of their present ages is 55 years?

I was initially stumped by the question. I drew the necessary block diagram but "the 5 years ago" and the "present age is 55 years".

I gave up on the question and decided to leave it aside for a day. The next day, I had a light bulb moment when it daunt upon me to just add the 5 years to each block to make it a total of 55 years old.

If you have drawn the blocks without the +5, I feel you. That was where I got stuck too till that light bulb moment.

Once you see this diagram, you should immediately know how to solve this question.

Step 1: 55 - (5+5)= 45

The total value of the five boxes is 45.

Step 2: 45 / 5 = 9

The value of each box is 9.

Step 3: 9 x 4 = 36

Mrs Ismail was 36 years old 5 years ago.

Step 4: 36+5 = 41

Mrs Ismail is 41 years old now.

Comments

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