If you add​ Natalie's age and​ Fred's age, the result is 37. If you add​ Fred's age to 3 times​ Natalie's age, the result is 63. Write and solve a system of equations to find how old Fred and Natalie are??

1 Answer
Mar 13, 2018

Natalie is 13 Fred is 24

Explanation:

Let x be Fred and y be Natalie
Rewrite the written problem into algebraic form.
x+y=37
x+3y=63
We can then rewrite these equations
As x+y=37 we can rewrite the second equation with that in mind
2y+37=63 (we replaced an x and y with 37)
Solve from here
2y=63-37
2y=26
y=13
We now know Natalie's age, putting that into the first equation of
x+y=37
We get
x+13=37
x=37-13
x=24
And that is Fred's age