A father is three times as old as the son, and the daughter is 3 years younger than the son. If the sum of their ages 3 years ago was 63 Find the present age of the father
Let f be the age of the father and d be the age of the daughter and s be the age of the son. We have: f = 3s d = s - 3 d - 3 + f - 3 + s - 3 = 63 Simplify (3) d + f + s - 9 = 63 d + f + s = 72 Now, substitute (1) and (2) into the modified (3) (s - 3) + 3s + s = 72 Combine like terms: 5s - 3 = 72 Add 3 to each side 5s = 75 Divide each side by 5 s = 15 We want f, so we substitute s = 15 into (1) f = 3(15) f = 45
