• Word Problems

Age Word Problems

Age problems set up relationships between people's ages at different points in time — "Maria is twice as old as her son, and in 12 years she will be 1.5 times his age." They feel tricky because time shifts everything: everyone gets older by the same number of years, but the ratios between ages change. The key is picking variables carefully (usually let one person's current age be x) and writing separate equations for "now" and "then." These problems are a favorite on entrance exams and standardized tests because they test whether you can translate layered English relationships into clean algebra without getting tangled up.