Monday Madness

I work with a guy who can never answer a question with a straight answer. He was "explaining" about the age of his wife and daughter: "Together, my wife and daughter are an even 100 years old. When my daughter was half as old as my wife was when my wife was three times as old as my daughter was when my daughter was one-fourth as old as my wife was when my wife was twice my daughter's age now, my wife was three times as old as my daughter was when my daughter was half as old as my wife was when my wife was as old as my daughter will be four years after my daughter will be half as old as my wife four years from now." For crying out loud! Somebody just tell me how old these people are please!

I work with a guy who can never answer a question with a straight answer. He was "explaining" about the age of his wife and daughter:

"Together, my wife and daughter are an even 100 years old. When my daughter was half as old as my wife was when my wife was three times as old as my daughter was when my daughter was one-fourth as old as my wife was when my wife was twice my daughter's age now, my wife was three times as old as my daughter was when my daughter was half as old as my wife was when my wife was as old as my daughter will be four years after my daughter will be half as old as my wife four years from now."

For crying out loud! Somebody just tell me how old these people are please!

Not touching that one, Women do not to let others know how old they are.

Jimbo1

Wife is 68. Daughter is 32. Ill try explain later. this one was long time writing on paper. lol it has an easier way ill try to figure that i used brute force math

Let W be age of wife now and D be age of Daughter now.
Let Aw represent age of wife at Time A and Let Ad represent age of daughter at Time A

From:

"Together, my wife and daughter are an even 100 years old

We get : W + D =100
From:

When my daughter was half as old as my wife was when my wife was three times as old as my daughter was when my daughter was one-fourth as old as my wife was when my wife was twice my daughter's age now, my wife was three times as old as my daughter was when my daughter was half as old as my wife was when my wife was as old as my daughter will be four years after my daughter will be half as old as my wife four years from now

.
We get that:
Td = Xw/2 and Xw = 3Yd and Yd = Zw/4 and Zw = 2D
So Td = 3D/4

Also
Tw = 3Ad and Ad = Bw/2 and Bw = Cd + 4 and Cd = (W+4) / 2
So Tw = 9 + 3W/4

At any given time the wife will always be the same number of years older than the daughter.
So We get:
W – D = Tw –Td

OR
W – D =( 9 + 3W/4) - 3D/4 So W – D = 9 + 3(W – D)/4 Which gives (W – D)/4 = 9

SO W – D = 36

Sovling the simultaneous equations:

W – D = 36
W + D =100

Adding we get:
2W = 136
So W=68
And thus D=32


Wife is 68. Daughter is 32

saves me trying to work it out using my trial and error methods.. must admit i do greatly admire the way you can make the equations and then work them out to get the correct answer. well explained too, i followed everything you did… eventually. i would of just used age guess where the daughter was 1/2 the age of the wife in 4 years time that equalled 104, then checked the age difference against the other criteria until everything worked out. can't beat brains with a good education. well done again.

I wish I could do math like that. Well done, otisx.

Yes, Well done otisx!

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My Goodness jimbo1

Thank you guys. Math was my speciality in school.

TomK was there another way to do this?

Not that I'm aware of. You could have set up the equations a little differently… but converting the statement to an equation and then solving it is the only way I know how to do it.

Cool thanks I thought I may have over analyzed it. Bless