Math riddle....?

let the age of the ship be a years now and thus the age of boiler is (49-a) years now.

the ship was the age of its boiler a - (49 -a) or 2a-49 years ago. Then the boiler was (49-a) - (2a - 49) years of age.

so, the ship is now 2 * {(49-a) - (2a - 49)} or 2 * (98-3a) years of age

so, 2 * (98-3a) = a

or, 7a = 196

or, a = 28

so, the ship is 28 years old and the boiler is 49-28=21 years old right now

age of boiler now=x,age of boiler when ship was x yrs=x-y,therefore age of ship now is 2(x-y).combined boiler and ship= 2(x-y) + x =49. I got stuck here,with two unknowns,maybe if you cud specify by how many years is the ship older than the boiler...........

if ship is 28 years old now.

the boiler is 21 years old now then ( 49-28= 21).

when the boiler was half the present age of the ship (14)

it would have been 7 years ago ( 21 year old boiler- 7 years = 14.

28

x = boiler's age now ; x-y = boiler's age y years ago

49 - x = ship's age now ; 49 - x - y = ship's age y yrs ago

49 - x = 2 ( x-y ) where 49 - x = x - y

49 - x = 2x - 2y and y = -2x - 49

3x - 2y = 49 and substitute -2x - 49 for y in first equation

3x - 2(-2x - 49 ) = 49

7x - 98 = 49

7x = 147

x = 21 boiler's age now

49 - x = 28 ship's age now

age of boiler = x

age of ship = 2x

combined age of boiler and ship = x + 2x = 49

x + 2x = 49

3x = 49

x = 49/3 = 16.33

age of ship = 2x = 2(16.33) = 32.66 years

This isn't much of a riddle.

S = ship's age

B = boiler's age

System of linear equations.

S = 2(B - (S - B))

S + B = 49

Answer:

S = 28

B = 21