If Leah is 6 years older than Sue, and John is 5 years older than Leah, and the total of their ages is 41. Then how old is Sue? How do you know what and, is, and older mean in mathematical terms?

Since Leah is mentioned twice, let's define her age as x yrs.

then Sue is x-6
and John is x+5

so x + x-6 + x+5 = 41
3x = 42
x = 14

Leah is 14
Sue is 8
John is 19

s + s + 6 + s + 11 = 41

3s + 17 = 41

3s = 41 - 17
3s = 24
s = 8

Sue is 8
Leah is 14
John is 19

To solve this problem, let's break it down step by step:

Step 1: Assign variables
Let's assign variables to the ages of Sue, Leah, and John.
- Let's say Sue's age is "x" years.
- Since Leah is 6 years older than Sue, Leah's age can be expressed as "x + 6" years.
- Similarly, John's age is 5 years older than Leah's, so John's age can be represented as "x + 6 + 5" years, which simplifies to "x + 11" years.

Step 2: Write the equation
We are given that the total of their ages is 41. Therefore, the equation is:
x + (x + 6) + (x + 11) = 41

Step 3: Solve the equation
Let's solve the equation:
3x + 17 = 41
Subtract 17 from both sides:
3x = 24
Divide both sides by 3:
x = 8

Therefore, Sue's age is 8 years.

In mathematical terms, "and" is often represented by the addition symbol (+), as we are adding the ages together. "Is" can be represented by an equal sign (=) because we are equating the total of their ages to 41. "Older" means that one person's age is greater than another person's age. In this case, Leah is older than Sue by 6 years, and John is older than Leah by 5 years.

To solve this problem, we can create variables for the ages of Leah, Sue, and John. Let's say Leah's age is L, Sue's age is S, and John's age is J.

We are given that Leah is 6 years older than Sue, so we know that L = S + 6.

Also, we are given that John is 5 years older than Leah, so J = L + 5.

Lastly, the total of their ages is 41, so we have the equation L + S + J = 41.

To find Sue's age, we need to solve for S.

Let's substitute the values of L and J into the third equation to form a new equation solely in terms of S:
(S + 6) + S + (S + 6 + 5) = 41

Now, we can solve this equation:
3S + 17 = 41
3S = 41 - 17
3S = 24
S = 24 / 3
S = 8

Therefore, Sue is 8 years old.

In mathematical terms, "and" is used to indicate that multiple conditions or values should be combined or added together. In this problem, "and" is used to express the combined total of the ages.

The term "is" indicates equality or a relationship between two values. In this problem, it is used to denote the equal relationship between Leah's age and Sue's age plus 6, and between John's age and Leah's age plus 5.

The term "older" indicates a comparison between two quantities, with one quantity being greater than the other. In this problem, it is used to describe the relationship between Leah's age and Sue's age plus 6, and between John's age and Leah's age plus 5.