This problem solving activity has an algebra focus.
There are four children in Marie's family.
She is less than 11 years old and is the oldest.
There's a two year age difference to twins, Grace and Lily, who come next.
Tom, who is older than 5, is two years younger than the twins.
How old are each of the children?
In solving this problem students use the equality and inequality symbols : =, <, > to express family age relationships. As they do so, they become increasingly familiar with the meaning of each symbol: "is equal to", "is less than" and "is greater than" respectively. Students also use the comparative language of "older" and "younger". The Level 2 problem 'Figure This' could also be used to explore inequality symbols.
There are four children in Marie's family. She is less than 11 years old and is the oldest. There's a two year age difference to twins, Grace and Lily, who come next. Tom, who is older than 5, is two years younger than the twins. How old are each of the children?
Write a problem using <, > or = age clues for the people in your family. Ask a classmate to see if they can solve your problem. The solutions to these problems will be dependent on the numbers used. Look for students to correctly use <, >, and =.
Marie is less than 11 and Tom is more than 5. The ages of the children are therefore 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10. The problem requires students to use common sense and logic to recognise that twins are the same age and the age range is from 6 to 10.
As there is a difference of 2 years between each year of birth, the ages must be 6, 8 and 10.
Marie’s age = 10 (check 10 < 11); and Tom’s age = 6 (check 6 > 5); and Grace’s age = 8 (check 10 – 2 = 8 and/or 6 + 2 = 8); and Lily's age = 8 (check 8 = 8).
Printed from https://meaningfulmaths.nt.edu.au/mmws/nz/resource/how-old at 8:56pm on the 26th February 2024