DS: age

This topic has expert replies
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 45
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2010 1:10 am

DS: age

by 7806 » Sat Sep 04, 2010 12:37 pm
Bobby and his younger brother Johnny have the same birthday. Johnny's age now is the same as Bobby's age was when Johnny was half as old as Bobby is now. What is Bobby's age now?
(1) Bobby is currently four times as old as he was when Johnny was born.
(2) Bobby was six years old when Johnny was born.

pl explain your approach. thanks.



OA-B

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 1179
Joined: Sun Apr 11, 2010 9:07 pm
Location: Milpitas, CA
Thanked: 447 times
Followed by:88 members

by Rahul@gurome » Sat Sep 04, 2010 9:02 pm
Solution:
Let Johnny's present age be x and Bobby's present age be y.
Half of Bobby's age is y/2.
Johnny must have been y/2 years of age (x-y/2) years ago.
At that time Bobby must have been y - (x - y/2) = 3y/2 - x years of age.
So x = 3y/2 - x
Or 2x = 3y/2.
Or 4x = 3y.

Consider first statement (1) alone.
When Johnny was born, Bobby must have been y - x years of age.
Or 4*(y-x) = y
Or 3y = 4x.
This is just the same equation as what we get from the main question.
So (1) alone is not sufficient.

Next consider (2) alone.
It means y - x = 6.
So we have 2 equations, 4x = 3y and y - x = 6.
Or x = 18 and y is 24.

So Bobby's age now is 24 years.

Since (2) alone is sufficient, (B) is the correct answer.
Rahul Lakhani
Quant Expert
Gurome, Inc.
https://www.GuroMe.com
On MBA sabbatical (at ISB) for 2011-12 - will stay active as time permits
1-800-566-4043 (USA)
+91-99201 32411 (India)

Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 45
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2010 1:10 am

by 7806 » Sun Sep 05, 2010 11:48 am
thanks rahul...nice explanation.