The ages of three siblings combined is 27. The oldest is twice the age of the youngest. The middle child is 3 years older than the youngest. Write and solve an equation to find the ages of each sibling.
youngest --- x
oldest ---- 2x
middle ---- x+3
x + 2x + x+3 = 27
solve for x
4x=27-3
4x=24
X=14\4
X=7/2
To solve this problem, we can assign variables to represent the ages of the three siblings. Let's call the age of the youngest sibling "y," the age of the middle sibling "m," and the age of the oldest sibling "o."
From the given information, we can establish the following equations:
1. The sum of their ages is 27: y + m + o = 27.
2. The oldest sibling is twice the age of the youngest: o = 2y.
3. The middle child is 3 years older than the youngest: m = y + 3.
Now, let's substitute the values from equations 2 and 3 into equation 1:
y + (y + 3) + 2y = 27.
Simplifying the equation:
4y + 3 = 27,
4y = 27 - 3,
4y = 24.
Dividing both sides of the equation by 4:
y = 6.
Now, we know that the youngest sibling is 6 years old. Substituting this value back into equations 2 and 3:
o = 2(6) = 12,
m = 6 + 3 = 9.
So, the youngest sibling is 6 years old, the middle sibling is 9 years old, and the oldest sibling is 12 years old.