Let

x = Larry’s age
Why Larry? Even though we are looking for Megan’s age, analyzing the given information
tells us that Larry’s age is related to both Gabby’s and Megan’s ages. Incidentally, as we’ll
find out later, Larry is the youngest of the three.
Let’s create a table now with three timeframes, as follows:

3 years from now

4 years ago () NOW
(+)

Larry x4 x x+3

Gabby

Megan

Let’s fill in Larry’s row first before we move on to creating algebraic expressions for the
other two.
The minus sign () in the first column means that we are deducting 4 from Larry’s current
age (x) since we are going back 4 years. The plus sign in the 3rd column means that we are
adding 3 to Larry’s current age (x) since we are going forward 3 years.
Now the problem indicates that Gabby is older than Larry. We create an algebraic
expression to show the relationship between Larry’s current age (x) and Gabby’s current
age.
Gabby is 1 year more than (+1) twice (times 2) Larry’s age (x).
That gives us the expression
2x + 1
Let’s plug this into the table:

3 years from now

4 years ago () NOW
(+)

Larry x4 x x+3

Gabby 2x  3 2x + 1 2x + 4

Megan

Let’s complete Gabby’s row by doing the same operation we did in filling in Larry’s row.
3 years from now means that we add 3 (+3) to Gabby’s current age (2x + 1). That’s
2x + 1 +3
We can add 3 and 1 to simplify the expression which gives us
2x + 4
4 years ago means that we subtract 4 ( 4) from Gabby’s current age (2x + 1). That’s
2x + 1  4
Simplifying this expression we get
2x  3
This information goes into the table above as well.
What next? We have completed Larry’s row so we move on to Megan’s.
The second sentence in the problem states that
3 years from now, Megan will be 27 less than twice Gabby’s age.
I have italicized the key words in the statement that will lead us to deriving the correct
algebraic expression to show the relationship between Gabby’s age (2x + 4) and Megan’s
age three years from now.
We already have the information that we need for Gabby’s age 3 years from now (2x + 4)
so we just look at the next phrase.
Since Megan’s age then will be less than twice Gabby’s age, we subtract 27 from two times
Gabby’s age:
2(2x + 4)  27
Simplifying this expression we get
(4x + 8)  27 (Distributive property of multiplication)
4x  19 (Associative property of addition)
Let’s put this new information in the table:

3 years from now

4 years ago () NOW
(+)

Larry x4 x x+3

Gabby 2x  3 2x + 1 2x + 4

Megan 4x  19

I marked the expression in bold because this will give us the final answer to the question
How old will Megan be 3 years from now?
That means, once we have whatever the value of x is, we can plug that into the algebraic
expression for what we’re looking for (Megan’s age 3 years from now, or 4x  19) and
voila! We should be done by then.
However, since we don’t have an equation yet that will let us solve for x, let’s move on and
complete Megan’s row first with the information that we have from the third phrase in the
problem statement.
 4 years ago, Megan was 1 year less than 3 times Larry’s age.
What was Larry’s age 4 years ago? Peeking at the table gives us
x4
We now work with this expression to give us Megan’s age from the same timeframe.
3(x  4)  1
The new information we added to the expression is highlighted in red. Simplifying, we get
(3x  12)  1 (Distributive property of multiplication)
3x  13 (Associative property of addition)
This new expression goes into the table as well:

3 years from now

4 years ago () NOW
(+)

Larry x4 x x+3

Gabby 2x  3 2x + 1 2x + 4

Megan 3x  13 4x  19

Whew! We’re almost there! However, notice that the problem statement doesn’t give us
anything about Megan’s current age. Do we even need that information, you ask? Well, we
don’t, but figuring out how to derive an expression for Megan’s current age will give us the
equation we need to solve for x, the value of which is what we need to plug into the
expression in boldface (4x  19) to give us the final answer. Also, notice that x (Larry’s age
now) is in the same middle column.
So how do we derive an algebraic expression for Megan’s age NOW from the information
we already have?
3x  13 Megan’s age 4 years ago
4x  19 Megan’s age 3 years from now
Maybe at this time you’ve already figured out that adding 4 to the first expression:
3x  13 + 4
will give us what we need to determine Megan’s current age. But wait, subtracting from the
second expression:
 4x  19  3
will also give us the same information (Megan’s current age)! So, the either expression will
give us the answer. Their value is equal:
3x  13 + 4 = 4x  19  3
Finally, we see the equals sign! This is the equation we have been looking for to solve for x.
Let’s hunker down and get to work!
3x  13 + 4 = 4x  19  3
3x  9 = 4x  22 simplifying both sides of the equation

3x  9 + 22 = 4x  22 + 22 adding 22 to both sides to isolate the variable x

3x  13  3x = 4x  3x subtracting 3x from both sides for same reason
13 = x
Hooray! But are we done yet? No! Just one last step. Now that we know the value of x, let’s
plug that into the equation
4x  19 Megan’s age 3 years from now
and we should be golden.
4x  19
4(13) 19
52  19
33 Megan’s age 3 years from now
Does the answer make sense? Let’s check to be sure. Since we know that x is Larry’s
current age, let’s take a look at the third statement again to see if our answer matches up:
4 years ago, Megan was 1 year less than 3 times Larry’s age.
Four years ago, Larry’s age was x  4 or (13)  4 = 9. Megan’s age then was 3x  13 or
3(13) 13 = 26.
Three times Larry’s age (9) is 27 and Megan was 1 year less than that (or 27  1 = 26).
Adding 4 to that gives us Megan’s current age (30) and three years hence gives us 33,
which is our final answer. QED