Gail and her brother Henry had a combined age of 47. If Gail was twice as old as Henry ten years ago, how old is Gail today?
g+h = 47
g-10 = 2(h-10)
g = 28
g+h = 47
g-10 = 2(h-10)
g-10=2h-20
g=2h-10
Therefore g+h=47 is the same as 2h-10+h=47.
So 2h-10+h=47
3h=57
h=57/3=19
Then g+19=47
g=47-19=28yrs :)
To find out Gail's age today, we need to analyze the information provided.
Let's assume Gail's current age is G, and Henry's current age is H.
According to the given information, Gail and Henry's combined age is 47, so we can express this as an equation:
G + H = 47 (Equation 1)
We also know that Gail was twice as old as Henry ten years ago. This means that Gail's age ten years ago (G - 10) was twice Henry's age (H - 10). Mathematically, this can be expressed as:
G - 10 = 2(H - 10) (Equation 2)
Now, we have a system of two equations (Equations 1 and 2) with two variables (G and H). We can solve this system of equations to find the values of G and H, which will help us determine Gail's current age.
First, we simplify Equation 2:
G - 10 = 2H - 20
G = 2H - 10 (Equation 3)
We can substitute Equation 3 into Equation 1 to eliminate Gail's variable (G):
(2H - 10) + H = 47
3H - 10 = 47
3H = 57
H = 19
Now that we know Henry's current age is 19, we can substitute this value back into Equation 3 to find Gail's current age:
G = 2(19) - 10
G = 38 - 10
G = 28
Therefore, Gail is currently 28 years old.