Aaah - I'm stuck on the maths homework again! Mners please help (year 6 algebra)

[MrsFogi]

I am doing all I can not to let on to DD that I have been left behind by the year 6 maths (and I am thinking of giving my maths gcse back because clearly I need to redo it after all these years - and I'm not sure I could do this even then). So the question I am stumped on is this:
A father's age and his son's age add up to 64. The father is 36 years older than his son. How old is his son? Now I can work this out by a process of trial and error but this is in the algebra section so can someone explain how to do this in some sort of logical, algebraic fashion (I will then be ensuring I understand it and passing off your explanation as my own so perpetuating the impression that maths is great and nothing to get concerned about? Thank you with and .

Isn't it just 64-36=28?

no, divide 28 by 2 for son's age - so son is 14, dad is 50.

Fathers age = f
Sons age = s

1. F + s = 64
2. F = s + 36 Substitute 2) into 1) (S + 36) + s = 64 Rearrange to give 2s = 64 - 36

Can you solve from here?

I wouldn't have understood this either .

X + 36 =64, therefore 64 - 36 = X, as explained above, just in a more homeworkey answer type way.
Disclaimer, my own algebraic homework dates from pre-history.

Let the son's age be x.
The father is 36 years older than his son, so the father's age is x+36.
The father and son's ages add up to 64, so x+x+36=64.
2x+36=64
2x=28
x=14
So the son is 14

Ignore, I didn't read OP properly

sons age + (sons age + 36) = 64
X + (x+36) = 64
2x + 36 = 64
2x = 28
X = 14

I would expect my Y7 class to do this as

sons age = x
Dad's age = x + 36

x + x + 36 = 64
2x + 36 = 64 (simplify the algebra)
2x = 28 (subtract the 36 from both sides)
x = 14 (divide both sides by 2)

So the son is 14, which makes the dad 14 + 36 = 50

Algebra? Ooh ooh I know this.
Does it have brackets? If it does, you need to work out that bit first.

You can let your dd practice how to use variables in simple algebra on this site. (free up to 10 question a day.)

I think once you get how to use variables, maths seems so much easier and quicker than trial and error!

Sorry,

uk.ixl.com/math/algebra

Too late to the party,but since i've put the work in...

And yay I can do y6 maths!

The thing with algebra is to try and get everything into the same terms. You've been told some information in step 1 ' A father's age and a son's age add up to 64 years', but it has two terms: father(f) and son(s). In the second step of the question, you are given the information that allows you to convert it into a single term: 'the father is 36 years older than the son'.

Step 1: f + s = 64
Step 2: (s+36) + s = 64

Once you have only one term (s) you can simplify your sum. Depending on how confident your maths is, you can use as many or few steps as you need:

Step 3: s + 36 + s = 64
Step 4: 2s + 36 = 64
Step 5: 2s = 64 - 36 = 28
Step 6: s = 14

Thanks for rescuing me mners! I can keep the illusion of maths brilliance for a while longer......