Solve This!

Santa Claus Solution

The steps you can take to solving this problem are,

1. Add up the fractions of his life he’s worked at different jobs.
1/3 + 1/4 + 1/5 = 47/60

2. Subtract the numerator of the fraction, which was 47, from the denominator, which was 60, and you’ll get 13.
60-47 = 13

Then you know the fraction that Santa Claus had been Santa Claus, 13/60 of his working life.

3. Now if Santa Claus has been Santa Claus for 13 years then the fraction for 13 years of his working life is 13/60. You can add up all the fractions except for a missing one and you get a fraction. For example,
1/4 + 1/5 + 13/60 = 40/60.

Now you can subtract the numerator from the denominator of the fraction and get the amount of years he’s worked at that missing job. So you subtract 60 - 40 = 20 which is 1/3 of his life at work and you have the amount of years he’s worked as a school caretaker.

4. You can add up the total amount of years worked and add the fifteen years he hadn’t worked as a youth, then you’ll have his age.
13+15+20+12+15=75

Santa Claus is 75 years old.

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