Lesson 7

WORD PROBLEMS:
AGE
MIXTURE
RATE
WORK
 Age Problem
Important concepts:
■ If the present age is x, then age n years later/hence = x + n.
■ If the present age is x, then age n years ago = x – n.
■ If the present age is y, then n times the present age = ny.
■ The ages in a ratio a: b will be ax and bx.
■ If the difference d of ages between persons remains.
■ When one person involves, you may create an equation
directly from the problem.
■ Mostly, when this involves ages of two or more persons,
figure out who is the youngest/younger
Age Problem
Important concepts:

■ If the age problem involves the ages of two or more people then using a table
would be a good idea. Based on the table, develop an equation.
Past Present Age Future
Ex. 5 years ago Ex. 5 years later

Person A

Person B
Age Problem
Example 1:
Five years ago, John’s age was half of the age he will be in 8 years. How
old is he now?

Let x be John’s age now. Look at the question and put the
relevant expressions above it.

The equation will be x - 5 = ½(x+8)

Age Problem (exercises)
1) Ten years from now, Orlando will be three times
older than he is today. What is his current age?

2) One-half of Heather's age two years from now plus

one-third of her age three years ago is twenty
years. How old is she now?
 Age Problem
Example 1: In January of the year 2000, I was one more than eleven times as old as
my son Will. In January of 2009, I was seven more than three times as old as him.
How old was my son in January of 2000?
Solution: Let x = be the age of the son on 2000
2000 2009

Son x x+9

Father 11x +1 3 (x+9) +7

What will be the equation: 11x+1+9 = 3(x+9)+7

Age Problem(exercises)
1. John’s father is 5 times older than John and John is twice
as old as his sister Alice. In two years time, the sum of their
ages will be 58. How old is John now?

2. Phil is Tom's father. Phil is 35 years old. Three years ago,

Phil was four times as old as his son was then. How old is
Tom now?

3. The sum of the ages of James and Clark is . Five years

ago, Clark’s age was three times as James’ age. How old
are James and Clark now?
 Mixture Problems
Mixture problems have three amounts. Two of them are the amounts being mixed, and
the third is the resulting mixture amount. Each amount has its own % strength or cost.
Solution Problems(Liquid)
(% 1) (amount 1) + (% 2)(amount 2)= (final %)(total amount)
Mixture Problems (Solid)
(cost 1)(amount 1) + (cost 2) (amount 2) = (final cost) (total amount)
Helpful tips on setup:
1. Though it does not matter whether you use decimal or percentage.
2. The concentration of pure acid is %100.
3. The concentration of pure water, is 0%.
Mixture Problems (Sample)
“You need a 15% acid solution for a certain test, but your
supplier only ships a 10% solution and a 30% solution. Rather
than pay extra to have him make a 15% solution, you decide to
mix 10% solution with 30% solution, to make your own 15%
solution. You need 10 liters of the 15% acid solution. How
many liters of 10% solution and 30% solution should you use?”
Equation: 10%x + 30%(10-x) = 15%(10)
Mixture Problems (Sample)
A 50 ml after-shave lotion at 30% alcohol is mixed with 30 ml of pure water. What is
the percentage of alcohol in the new solution?
Equation: 0%(30) + 30%(50) = x%(30+50)

Find the selling price per pound of a coffee mixture made from 8 pounds of coffee
that sells for $9.20 per pound and 12 pounds of coffee that costs $5.50 per pound.
Equation: 8 (9.2) + 12 ( 5.5) = 20 ($)

Ten grams of sugar are added to a 40-g serving of a breakfast cereal that is 30%
sugar. What is the percent concentration of sugar in the resulting mixture?
Equation: 10( 100%) + 40 ( 30%) = (x%)50
Mixture Problems (exercises)
1.John has 20 ounces of a 20% of salt solution. How
much salt should he add to make it a 25% solution?

2. John has 20 ounces of a 20% of salt solution. How

much water should he evaporate to make it a 30%
solution?
Work Problems
The formula for “Work” Problems that involve two persons is

Peter can mow the lawn in 40 minutes and John can mow the lawn in
60 minutes. How long will it take for them to mow the lawn together?
Equation: 1/40 + 1/60 = 1/x
Work Problems (exercises)
1. Jane, Paul and Peter can finish painting the fence in 2 hours. If Jane
does the job alone she can finish it in 5 hours. If Paul does the job
alone he can finish it in 6 hours. How long will it take for Peter to
finish the job alone?
2. A tank can be filled by pipe A in 3 hours and by pipe B in 5 hours.
When the tank is full, it can be drained by pipe B in 4 hours. If the
tank is initially empty and all three pipes are open, how many hours
will it take to fill up the tank?
Work Problems (Man-hours work)
A man-hour is the labor done by one worker over the period of an hour.
● If one person works for three hours, this is three man-hours.
● If one person works for one hour and another works for two hours, this is also
three man-hours.
● By multiplying the number of workers by the number of hours worked (or by
summing the hours of each employee), we can find the total man-hours
devoted to a particular task.

When using man-hours, we have to assume that every worker's productivity is

pretty much the same
Work Problems (Man-hours work)
Example: It is known that a particular project can be completed by nine employees

working eight hours a day for twenty-five days. To speed completion of the project in

a particular town, the supervisor is being provided with twelve workers, and is being

asked to complete the project in fifteen days. How many hours a day must the

employees work each day, in order to finish on time? Answer: 10 hours per day.

Equation: 9 employee x 8 hrs x 25 days = 12 employees x ? hours x 15 days

Work Problems (Man-hours work)
Twenty men can cut thirty trees in four hours. If four men leave the job, how many
trees will be cut in six hours?

If a hen and a half lays an egg and a half in a day and a half, how many eggs will 5
hens lay in six days?

Hint: Labor x time x rate = Work output

Distance-Rate problem
The formula for distance problem is: distance = rate × time or d = r × t.
Make sure that the units for time and distance agree with the units for the rate. For
instance, if they give you a rate of feet per second, then your time must be in
seconds and your distance must be in feet. Sometimes they try to trick you by using
the wrong units, and you have to catch this and convert to the correct units.

Example 1(simple): A bug travels at a rate equal to 3 inches per hour. How far will it
travel in 4 hours?

Example 2(opposite direction): Two cars leave from the same place at the same
time and travel in opposite directions. One car travels at 55 mph and the other at 75
mph. After how many hours will they be 520 miles apart?
Distance-Rate problem
Example 3: (Meet)Two friends, Sherry and Fredrick, live 2000 miles apart. They want to meet each other
and decided to both travel so that they can see each other sooner. If they both drive directly toward each
other and Sherry travels at 50 mph and Fredrick travels at 60 mph, how much time will pass before they
meet each other.

Example 4: (Unknown Partial Distance). An executive drove from home at an average speed of 30 mph to
an airport where a helicopter was waiting. The executive boarded the helicopter and flew to the corporate
offices at an average speed of 60 mph. The entire distance was 150 miles; the entire trip took three hours.
Find the distance from the airport to the corporate offices.

Example 5: (Chase) A helicopter travels to the East going 120 mph. Two hours later, it is determined that
the helicopter will need to be escorted on its journey to the East. How long will it take an F-14, traveling at
900 mph to catch up with the helicopter?”
Distance-Rate problem (exercises)
1. Superheroes Liza and Tamar leave the same camp and run in opposite
directions. Liza runs 1 mile per second (mps) and Tamar runs 2 mps. How far
apart are they in miles after 1 hour?

2. Two cars started at the same time, from the same point, driving along the same
road. The rate of the first car is 50 mph and the rate of the second car is 60
mph. How long will it take for the distance between the two cars to be 30 miles?

3. Two trains, traveling towards each other, left from two stations that are 900
miles apart, at 4 pm. If the rate of the first train is 72 mph and the rate of the
second train is 78 mph, at whatt time will they pass each other?
END