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Santosh is four more than three times the age of his cousin. If Santosh is 49 years old, then what is the age of his cousin?

Identify the two operations, in their appropriate order, needed to solve this equation.

Add and then multiply.
Add and then divide.
Subtract and then multiply.
Subtract and then divide.

1 answer

Let's define Santosh's cousin's age as \( x \).

According to the problem, we can translate the information into an equation: \[ 49 = 3x + 4 \]

To solve for \( x \), we need to first isolate the term \( 3x \). We can do this by subtracting 4 from both sides of the equation: \[ 49 - 4 = 3x \] \[ 45 = 3x \]

Next, we need to divide both sides by 3 to find \( x \): \[ x = \frac{45}{3} \] \[ x = 15 \]

Now we have determined that Santosh's cousin is 15 years old.

The two operations performed in order to solve the equation were:

  1. Subtract (to move 4 to the other side).
  2. Divide (to solve for \( x \)).

Thus, the correct answer is Subtract and then divide.