Question

Maggie's brother is three years younger than twice her age. The sum of their ages is 24. How old is maggie

Answer 1

maggies brother = b
maggie = m

b = 3 - 2m

Answer 2

How would I solve it

Answer 3

then it says their sum is equal to 24 so you got b+m = 24

Answer 4

then you can substitute the b for (3-2m) and you got m + (3-2m) = 24 and you can solve for m

Answer 5

Make sense?

Answer 6

Then would u combined like turms or distribute

Answer 7

i think you distribute

Answer 8

Essentially, what @Ashes.boom said is correct, but I'll just word it a different way.

Let's put it like this.
M = the age of Maggie.
B = the age of her brother.

Maggie's brother is 3 years younger than twice her age, so we'll get this formula:

b = 2m - 3

Now, it's said the sum of their ages is 24, so you now have:

m + b = 24

From here, you'll replace b with (2m - 3), and get this:

m + (2m - 3) = 24

Now you can combine 2m and m, which gives you 3m. So you're now left with:

3m - 3 = 24

Now, do a reverse operation and add the three to both sides, and it'll cancel on the left side, so you now have:

3m = 27

Now just divide by 3, and that'll tell you Maggie's age.

Answer 9

Solve the following for b and m, Maggie's brother's age and Maggie's age.
\[\{b=2 m-3,b+m=24\} \]