Quantitative Aptitude

P R O B L E M BASED ON AGES
In "Problems based on ages" usually relationships
between the ages of two or more persons at two differ-
ent time are given and we are required to find the ages
of these persons. Such problems can be solved by the
knowledge of "Linear Equations". However, in certain
cases we can find short-cut methods of deriving direct
formulae. This will save lot of precious time. Time-
scale is divided into three parts-past, present and
future. Problems usually state the relaUonship be-
tween ages of persons for two out of three parts of
time-scale. These relationships are either in the form
of ratio of their ages or alternatively as number of times
one's age is of the other. Sometimes, instead of stat-
ing the ratio of ages of two persons for two different
parts of time scale, only one such relationship is giv-
en. The other condition is stated in one of these forms-
sum of their ages, difference of their ages or product of
their ages. The main point that we have to see (e.g., in
case of two persons) that there are two unknowns (ages
of two persons) to be found and hence we must have
two unique relationships to solve these problems. Al-
though types of problems on ages can be too many, we
will try to cover here all those types of problems which
are commonly asked in competitive exams.
Ex. 1. The age of father 3 years ago was 8 times
the age of his son. Presently the father's age is 5 times
that of the son. Find their present ages.
Sol. Let the present age of son be x years.
Then, the present age of father = 5xyears.
3 years ago,
Son's age = (x - 3) years
Father's age = ( 5 x - 3) years
But 3 years ago the father's age was 8 Umes that
of his son. Therefore, we can write
8 (x-3) = 5x- 3
or, 8 x - 24 = 5 x - 3
or, 3x = 21
or, x = 7 years
and 5x = 35 years
We get the present age of son = 7 years
and the present age of father = 35 years Ans.
 Ex. 10. The sum of the ages of a mother and her 8. In a family the average age of father and mother
daughter is 40 years. Six years hence mother will be is 38 years whereas the average age of father,
thrice as old as her daughter. Find their present ages. mother and their only daughter is 28 years. Then
Sol. Let daughter's present age = x years the age of the daughter is :
Then, mother's present age = 40 - xyears ( 1 ) 5 years (2) 6 years
6 years hence : (3) 8 years (4) 10 years
Daughter's age = (x + 6) years 9. T h e average age of 30 boys in a class is 15 years.
Mother's age = (40 - x + 6) years One boy aged 20 years, left the class, but two
According to the question. new boys came in his place whose ages differ by 5
years. If the average age of all the boys now in the
40 - x + 6 = 3 (x + 6)
class still remains 15 years, the age of the young-
or. 4 6 - 18 = 4x
er newcomer is :
or. x = 7 years
(1) 20 years (2) 15 years
(3) 10 years (4) 8 years
10. Harsha is 40 years old and Rita is 60 years old.
How many years ago was the ratio of their ages
EXERCISE 3:5?
1. In a family, the average age of a father and a (1) 10 years (2) 20 years
mother is 35 years. The average age of the father, (3) 37 years (4) 5 years
mother and their only son is 27 years. What is
the age of the son ?
(1) 12 years (2) 11 years
(3) 10.5 years (4) 10 years her daughter in age. If the total age of the two
2. The present average age of a family of four mem- then be 60 years, what is the present age of the
bers is 36 years. If the present ago of the young- daughter ?
est member of the family be 12 years, the average (1) 16 years ( 2 ) 2 0 years
age of the family at the birth of the youngest (3) 12 years (4) 4 years
number was 12. The ratio of the present ages of Suresh and Anil
(1)48 years (2) 40 years is 7 : 8. If 4 years ago, the ratio of their ages be
(3) 32 years (4) 24 years 5 : 6, then find the present age of Anil.
3. The present ages of A and B are in the ratio 4 : 5
(1) 16 years (2) 14 years
and after 5 years they will be in the ratio 5 : 6.
(3) 10 years (4) 12 years
The present age of A is
(1) 10 years (2) 20 years 13. Present age of Rahul is 5 years less than Ritu's
(3) 25 years (4) 40 years present age. If 3 years ago Ritu's age was x, which
4. Four years ago, the ratio of A's age to B's age was of the following represents Rahul's present age ?
1 1 : 1 4 and four years later their ages will be in (l)x+3 (2)x-2
the ratio 13 : 16. The present age of A is (3) x-3 + 8 (4) x+ 3 + 8
(1)48 years (2) 26 years 14. The total age of A and B is 12 years more than
(3) 44 years (4) 28 years that of total age of B and C. C is how many years
5. There were 24 students in a class. One of them, younger than A ?
who was 18 years old, left the class and his place (1) C is elder than A (2)24
was filled up by a newcomer. If the average of the (3)12 (4) Data inadequate
class thereby, was lowered by one month, the age
15. The ratio between the present ages of M and N is
of the newcomer is
5 : 3 respectively. The ratio between Ms age 4
(1)14 years • (2) 15 years years ago and ATs age after 4 years is 1 : 1. What
(3) 16 years (4) 17 years is the ratio between iVfs age after 4 years and ATs
6. The sum of the ages of a father and his son is 100 age 4 years ago ?
years now. 5 years ago their ages were in the ra-
(1) 2 : 1 (2) 1 : 3
tio of 2 : 1. T h e ratio of the ages of father and son
after 10 years will be (3) 4 : 1 (4) 3 : 1
(1) 5 : 3 (2) 4 : 3
(3) 1 0 : 7 (4) 3 : 5 ANSWERS
7. 5 years ago, the average age of A, B, C and D was
1.(2) 2. (3) 3.(2) 4.(1) 5. (3)
45 years. With E joining them now, the average
6.(1) 7. (3) 8. (3) 9. (2) 10.(1)
age of all the five is 49 years. How old is E ?
(1)25 years (2) 40 years 11. (2) 12. (2) 13. (2) 14. 13) 15. (4)
(3) 45 years (4) 64 years