Paul is exactly 6 years older than Jane. The ratio of their ages is 5:3

How old is Paul?

1 answer

Let's call Paul's age "P" and Jane's age "J".

From the given information, we have two equations:
P = J + 6 (Paul is 6 years older than Jane)
P/J = 5/3 (The ratio of their ages is 5:3)

We can use substitution to solve for the ages.
Substitute P in the first equation with J + 6:
J + 6 = J + 6
J = 0

Substitute J in the second equation with 0:
P/0 = 5/3

Since division by 0 is undefined, this implies that there is no solution to the problem.