A ship is twice as old as its boiler was when the ship was the age the boiler now is. The present combined ages of the ship and boiler is 49 years. How old is the ship presently ?
2007-07-09 02:26:52 · 6 answers · asked by Mr Answerman 7 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
let the age of the ship be a years now and thus the age of boiler is (49-a) years now.
the ship was the age of its boiler a - (49 -a) or 2a-49 years ago. Then the boiler was (49-a) - (2a - 49) years of age.
so, the ship is now 2 * {(49-a) - (2a - 49)} or 2 * (98-3a) years of age
so, 2 * (98-3a) = a
or, 7a = 196
or, a = 28
so, the ship is 28 years old and the boiler is 49-28=21 years old right now
2007-07-09 02:46:27 · answer #1 · answered by Mock Turtle 6 · 7⤊ 1⤋
age of boiler now=x,age of boiler when ship was x yrs=x-y,therefore age of ship now is 2(x-y).combined boiler and ship= 2(x-y) + x =49. I got stuck here,with two unknowns,maybe if you cud specify by how many years is the ship older than the boiler...........
2007-07-09 03:13:55 · answer #2 · answered by tbaz4us 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
if ship is 28 years old now.
the boiler is 21 years old now then ( 49-28= 21).
when the boiler was half the present age of the ship (14)
it would have been 7 years ago ( 21 year old boiler- 7 years = 14.
28
2007-07-09 02:44:40 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 3⤋
x = boiler's age now ; x-y = boiler's age y years ago
49 - x = ship's age now ; 49 - x - y = ship's age y yrs ago
49 - x = 2 ( x-y ) where 49 - x = x - y
49 - x = 2x - 2y and y = -2x - 49
3x - 2y = 49 and substitute -2x - 49 for y in first equation
3x - 2(-2x - 49 ) = 49
7x - 98 = 49
7x = 147
x = 21 boiler's age now
49 - x = 28 ship's age now
2007-07-09 02:49:41 · answer #4 · answered by gfulton57 4 · 4⤊ 2⤋
age of boiler = x
age of ship = 2x
combined age of boiler and ship = x + 2x = 49
x + 2x = 49
3x = 49
x = 49/3 = 16.33
age of ship = 2x = 2(16.33) = 32.66 years
2007-07-09 02:41:52 · answer #5 · answered by Runa 7 · 0⤊ 9⤋
This isn't much of a riddle.
S = ship's age
B = boiler's age
System of linear equations.
S = 2(B - (S - B))
S + B = 49
Answer:
S = 28
B = 21
2007-07-09 02:42:12 · answer #6 · answered by сhееsеr1 7 · 2⤊ 12⤋