Three years back, a father was 24 years older than his son. At present...
Let the age of the son 3 years back be 'x' years.
Information 1: Three years back, a father was 24 years older than his son.
Therefore, the age of the father 3 years back was (x + 24).
If the age of the son 3 years back was 'x' years, the present age of the son is x + 3.
Present age of father = x + 24 + 3
Information 2: The father is at present 5 times as old as the son.
i.e., (x + 24 + 3) = 5(x + 3)
Or x + 27 = 5x + 15
Or 4x = 12 or x = 3.
Step 2 of solving this GMAT Algebra Word Problem: From unknown to the answer
x was the age of the son 3 years back.
Therefore, the son was 3 years old 3 years back.
The question is "How old will the son be three years from now?"
If the son was 3 years old, 3 years back, the son is 6 years old now.
Hence, he will be 9 years old three years from now.
Choice D is the correct answer.
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Three years back, a father was 24 years older than his son. At present...
Problem: Three years back, a father was 24 years older than his son. At present the father is 5 times as old as the son. How old will the son be three years from now?
Solution:
Let the present age of the son be x.
According to the problem, the father's present age is 5x.
Three years back, the son's age was x - 3, and the father's age was 5x - 3.
At that time, the father was 24 years older than his son, so we can write:
5x - 3 = 24 + (x - 3)
Solving for x, we get:
4x = 24 + 3 + 24
4x = 51
x = 12.75
Since the son's age must be a whole number, we can round x up to 13.
Therefore, the son's present age is 13, and the father's present age is 5 x 13 = 65.
Three years from now, the son will be 13 + 3 = 16 years old.
Answer: Option D (9 years) is incorrect, and the correct answer is option D (16 years).