Let Jane’s age be represented as J. According to the problem, Harvey is 3 times as old as Jane, so we can express Harvey’s age as 3J.
The problem states that the sum of their ages is 48 years, which gives us the equation:
J + 3J = 48
Simplifying this, we combine the terms on the left side:
4J = 48
To find Jane’s age, divide both sides of the equation by 4:
J = 48 / 4
J = 12
So, Jane is 12 years old. Now, to find Harvey’s age:
Harvey’s age = 3J = 3 * 12 = 36
Therefore, Jane is 12 years old and Harvey is 36 years old.