Algebra word problems, in general, can be difficult for some students. In school, students have to solve distance, linear, and age algebra problems. Age algebra problems usually consist of the age of people. The student might be asked to compare the ages of two people, or the problem may ask a problem about the age of one person, comparing the person's age from the past, present, and future.

Many students do well with age algebra problems, but some students need a little help. The student needs to read the age algebra problems and translate the information in the problems into algebraic expressions. The students will write equations to solve these problems. The student needs to know one type of algebra problem from another, and he or she needs to understand how to set up equations to reflect the information given in the problems. Age algebra problems involving one person are solved similarly to an integer problem. Problems involving two or more people need to be set up in a table. A table keeps the people and the values from being confused.

An example of an age algebra problem could be something like this: Boy number one is twice as old as boy number two, and boy number two is six years older than boy number three. In six years boy number one will be three times as old as boy number three. How old is boy number two now? A problem like this could be very confusing, so the best thing to do is to list boy number one, two and three in a table. The student would have to set up an equation to represent the word problem. If the problem gives the boys names, list the names under each other in the table. To the right of their names should be a space for their age now and their age in six years. To solve age algebra problems, such as this one, the student would need to enter their known and unknown values into the appropriate spaces, and then work the age algebra problems out algebraically beneath or beside the table.

Age algebra problems have key words that give clues to solve the problem. For instance the words "older than" in the phrase "Jack is two years older than Ted," the expression would be stated like this: j = t + 2. To solve age algebra problems the student needs to understand how to translate the problems into algebraic language, so they can be solved.