Write and solve an equation sam's father is 3 times sam's age the sum of their ages is 56 how old is sam's father

To solve this problem, we are going to set up a system of equations, letting the variable s represent Sam's age and the variable f represent his father's age. To create our equations, we must refer to our given information and substitute in our variables.

f = 3s

s + f = 56

Now, the question asks how old Sam's father is, so we are going to solve for the variable f. To do this, we are going to manipulate the second equation so that it is in terms of s (by subtracting f from both sides) and then substituting this value for s in the first equation.

s + f = 56

s + f - f = 56 - f

s = 56 - f

f = 3s

f = 3(56-f)

To solve this equation now, we must first distribute the 3 through the parentheses.

f = 168 - 3f

Next, we should add 3f to both sides to get all of the variable terms to the left side of the equation.

4f = 168

Finally, we should divide both sides of the equation by 4 to get the variable f alone.

f = 42

Therefore, Sam's father is 42 years old.

Hope this helps!

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