Can you Solve

Nancy is 24 years old. She is twice the age that Bessie had when Nancy was the same age that Bessie is now. How old is Bessie?

Bessie is 16 years old.

-- James.

I think the answer is 18 years old. Am I right?
Kindly let us know the correct answer

think james is right..!!The ans is 16

Nancy Current Age=24
Bessie Current Age =X(say)

Y Yr ago
Nancy Age = X/ 24-y
Bessie's Age = X-Y
(whn Nancy was Bessie's age)

Then ,acc to situation
24= 2(X-Y)
Also
X=24-Y
Solving , we get X= 18 which is Bessie's age !!

I think the question should "She was twice the age that Bessie had when Nancy was the same age that Bessie is now.".Then 16 is the answer."is" is misleading the question.There should"was".

[QUOTE=sripri;1644] She is twice the age that Bessie had when Nancy was the same age that Bessie is now. [/QUOTE]

Nancy is now 24, say N=24 ------------(1)
Bessie age now is unknown, say B=X ------------(2)

Given that, she (Nancy) is twice the age that Bessie had, so

N=Bo * 2, where Bo is Bessie’ age few years ago, say Y years ago.

So, Y years ago,

Bo=N / 2
Bo=24 / 2 [see (1)]
Bo=12 -----------------------(3)

And also given that, Nancy was the same age that Bessie is now, so

No = B = X [see (2)]

So, Y years ago,

N-Y=X =B, =No -----------(4)
X-Y=12 =Bo [see (3)] --------------(5)

N-Y=X
=>X+Y=N

X+Y=N
X-Y=12
----------Adding both equations
2X=12+N
2X=12+24 [see (1)]
2X=36
X=18

So Bessie’s age now is 18.

The answer for Bessie's age is 16.

When Bessie was 8 then Nancy was 16 (which satisfies the condition that Nancy is twice that of Bessie's age)
When Nancy reaches 24 then Bessie reaches 16 (which satisfies the condition Nancy was the same age that Bessie is now)

So the answer should be 16...