k= Keisha
k + 6=
John
k + k + 6
= 4k
2k + 6 ( - 2k)
= 4k ( - 2k)
6 = 2k
3 =
k
(Keisha= 3 years old)
k + 6 = 9
(John = 9 years old)
3 + 3 + 6 = 4 (3)
12 = 12
So
we made the pawn represent Keisha’s age.
Then we knew that John is 6 years older than Keisha so we represented
his age with a pawn plus 6. This went on 1 side of the equation because it said
that together they equal 4 times Keisha’s age. So on the other side of the
equation we put 4 pawns because we are using each pawn as Keisha’s age. Then we subtracted the pawns from each side
to keep the equation balanced. So we had
that 2 pawns equal 6, which means that each pawn equals 3 so Keisha is 3 years
old. Since John is 6 years older than
Keisha, he must be 9 years old. We
checked our work and substituted 6 in for each pawn and found that 12 equals
12, so our equation is balanced.
Hope this helps :)
