Take it slowly, one step at a time.
First, you need to pick something to call "Lauren's age",
because you don't know what number it is. I have a bright idea !
Let's call Lauren's age ' L ' ! OK ?
Use ' L ' to build the quantities discussed in the question:
Five times Lauren's age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 L
Five times Lauren's age, decreased by 2 . . . 5L - 2
Two times Lauren's age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 L
Two times Lauren's age, increased by 11 . . . 2L + 11
The question says that these 2 quantities are equal,
so write that down:
5L - 2 = 2L + 11
Add 2 to each side: 5L = 2L + 13
Subtract 2L from each side: 3L = 13
Divide each side by 3 : L = 13/3 or 4 and 1/3 .
That's certainly a weird number, but you can
check it out, and you'll find that it's true:
Lauren's age . . . . . 13/3
Five times Lauren's age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65/3
Five times Lauren's age, decreased by 2 . . . 59/3 <===
Two times Lauren's age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26/3
Two times Lauren's age, increased by 11 . . . 59/3 <===
Those 2 quantities are equal. So Lauren is 4-1/3 years old, by golly !
