How Old Are They Now?


This puzzle is meant for all the people who had trouble with age problems during high school algebra. In fact it might finish age problems all together. The next time you are asked to solve a problem about Dick being four times older than Fred was last Thursday, etc., pull this one out of your pocket:


Ten years from now Tim will be twice as old as Jane was when Mary was nine times as old as Tim. Eight years ago, Mary was half as old as Jane will be when Jane is one year older than Tim will be at the time when Mary will be five times as old as Tim will be two years from now. When Tim was one year old, Mary was three years older than Tim will be when Jane is three time as old as Mary was six years before the time when Jane was half as old as Tim will be when Mary will be ten years older than Mary was when Jane was one-third as old as Tim will be when Mary will be three times as old as she was when Jane was born.


How old are they now?

Read what other people are saying about this algebra age problem at The Puzzle Page Blog Site.

All original puzzles and solutions are © Erik Oosterwal 1993-2008

See all the brain teasers on The Puzzle Page.

Get daily puzzles in your RSS reader at The Puzzle Page Blog Site.

Looking for answers to computer programming problems?
Read what's going on in the Computer Science 101 classroom.