Andre came up with the following puzzle “I am three years younger than my brother and I am 2 years older than my sister. My moms age is one less than three times my brothers age. When you add all our ages you get 87. What are our ages?
Explain the meaning of the variable and each term of the equation.
Let's assign variables to each age mentioned in the puzzle:
Let A represent Andre's age.
Let B represent Andre's brother's age.
Let S represent Andre's sister's age.
Let M represent Andre's mom's age.
According to the puzzle:
1) Andre is three years younger than his brother, so A = B - 3.
2) Andre is two years older than his sister, so A = S + 2.
3) Andre's mom's age is one less than three times his brother's age, so M = 3B - 1.
4) The sum of all their ages is 87, so A + B + S + M = 87.
Now we can express each term of the equation in terms of the given variables:
- A represents Andre's age.
- B represents Andre's brother's age.
- S represents Andre's sister's age.
- M represents Andre's mom's age.
The equation A + B + S + M = 87 represents the sum of the ages of Andre, his brother, his sister, and his mom adding up to 87.