Finding the Ages of 5 People

    1)  The age of 5 people totals 253.  John is twice as old as 
Jim, and Frank is 5 years older than Jim.  Wilma is 7 years younger
than John, and Linda is 2 years older than Wilma.  How old is
each one?
 
    Using a good  formula can really make solving this easy.
 
    n + (2n) + (n+5) + (2n-7) + (2n-5) = 253  (We base the other
terms on "n," the age for Jim.)
 
    8n + (-7) = 253  (Here we add up the "n's" and the numbers)
    
    8n = 260  (We subtracted the negative 7 by adding a positive
7 to it; and did the same for both sides)
 
    n = 32.5
 
    Since "n" = 32.5 (the age of Jim), then we can add this number
to the variables above, in each term, to easily figure out the
other people's ages:
 
    32.5 -- Jim  (n)
    65   -- John (2n)
    37.5 -- Frank (n + 5)
    58 -- Wilma  (2n-7)
    60 -- Linda  (2n-5)
 
   253 -- TOTAL