Hamster Maths

Question

Helen is three years older than Hamish. Harold is twice as old as Hamish. The ages of all three hamsters sum to 19 years. How old is Hamish?

Let’s call Hamish’s age x.

Helen is three years older than that, so her age is x + 3.

Harold is twice as old as Hamish, so his age is 2x.

We know that x + (x+3) + 2x = 19.

Gather all our ‘x’s together and we get to: 4x + 3 = 19,

So 4x = 19 – 3

4x = 16, so x = 4

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