We are given these three people age below:
- Jim's age
- Carla's age
- Tomy's age
We define the age of Jim as any variable, because the problem doesn't give any specific age. I will define Jim's age as x.
Next, Carla is 5 years older than Jim. That means if Carla is 5 years older, her age would be x+5.
Then Tomy is 6 years older than Carla. That means the age would be 6+(x+5).
The sum of their three ages is 31 years old. That means we add all these ages and equal to 31.
[tex] \large{x + x + 5 + 6 + x + 5 = 31}[/tex]
Combine like terms and solve for x.
[tex] \large{3x + 16 = 31} \\ \large{3x = 31 - 16} \\ \large{3x = 15} \\ \large{x = 5}[/tex]
Then we substitute the value of x in ages to find these three people ages.
- Jim's age = x = 5
- Carla's age = x+5 = 5+5 = 10
- Tomy's age = 6+(x+5) = 6+(5+5) = 6+10 = 16.
Answer
- Jim's age = 5
- Carla's age = 10
- Tomy's age = 16
