Remember those word problems in high school or freshman college math class? Maybe you hated them. Or maybe, like me, you loved them. If you are in the latter group, here’s one for you:

A ship is twice as old as the anchor was when the ship was as old as the anchor is. The sum of their two present ages is 42 years. How old is each?

I haven’t looked but I wouldn’t be surprised if you could find the answer and the solution somewhere on the internet. But that would be cheating.

Hint: There is only one correct answer, but there may be more than one solution.