Last winter I was in the United Kingdom.
Travelling by train from London To Manchester, I had for company two middle-aged Englishmen who were seated opposite to me.
Naturally, they did not speak to me- because we hadn’t been introduced.
But I could Not help overhearing their conversation. “How old is Tracy, I wonder?’ one asked the other, ‘Tracy!’ the other replied ‘Let me see-eighteen Years ago he was three times as old as his son.’ ‘But now, it appears, he is only twice as old as his son’ said the former.
I tried to guess Tracy’s age, and his son’s age. What do you think my solutions was?
Answer: If the son is x years old, then the father is 2x years old. Eighteen years ago they were both eighteen years younger. The father was 2x-18 and the son x-18. We know solve that then the father was three times as old as the son: 3(x-18) = 2x-18 When we solve this equation, we will find that x=36. The son is 36 and the father 72.
