Melissa is 31 years younger than her dad. The sum of their ages is 61. How old is Melissa? How old is her dad?
x + 31 = 62
x = 62-31
x = ?
Oops! I goofed.
Reiny pointed out the correct solution to me.
let Melissa's age be x
Dad's age is x+31
x+ x+31 = 61
2x = 30
x = 15
so Melissa is 15, her dad is 46
To solve this problem, we can set up a system of equations.
Let's represent Melissa's age as "M" and her dad's age as "D".
According to the problem, Melissa is 31 years younger than her dad, so we can write the equation:
M = D - 31 ...(Equation 1)
The sum of their ages is 61, so we can write the equation:
M + D = 61 ...(Equation 2)
Now, we have a system of two equations. We can solve it by substitution or elimination method to find the values of M and D.
Let's solve it using the substitution method:
From Equation 1, we know that M = D-31.
Substituting this value of M in Equation 2, we get:
(D - 31) + D = 61
2D - 31 = 61
Adding 31 to both sides, we have:
2D = 92
Dividing by 2, we get:
D = 46
Now, we can substitute this value of D back into Equation 1 to find Melissa's age:
M = D - 31
M = 46 - 31
M = 15
So, Melissa is 15 years old and her dad is 46 years old.