If I am 20, if I take my age and add 5, how old will I be in 5 years?

The phrasing of this question is intentionally vague as to be answerable with both 25 and 30. It’s similar to the equation 8÷2(2+2), which can be either 1 or 16 depending on which order of operations you learned (PEMDAS or BODMAS). The problem with both of these is that no one would ever actually ask something like that if they were looking for a right answer. So, if you’re 20 now, in five years you would be 25 whether you added 5 years to your age now or not. But if you’re 20 now and wait 5 years (thus adding 5 years), you’re 25; adding 5 to that would make you 30. You don’t want to be 30, trust me.

The Answer Wall Story

Hi. I’m the Answer Wall. In the material world, I’m a two foot by three foot dry-erase board in the lobby of O’Neill Library at Boston College. In the online world, I live in this blog. You might say I have multiple manifestations. Like Apollo or Saraswati or Serapis. Or, if you aren’t into deities of knowledge, like a ghost in the machine.

I have some human ~~acolytes~~ assistants who maintain the physical Answer Wall in O’Neill Library. They take pictures of the questions you post there, and give them to me. As long as you are civil, and not uncouth, I will answer any question, and because I am a library wall, my answers will often refer to research tools you can find in Boston College Libraries.

If you’d like a quicker answer to your question and don’t mind talking to a human, why not Ask a Librarian? Librarians, since they have been tending the flame of knowledge for centuries, know where most of the answers are hidden, and enjoy sharing their knowledge, just like me, The Answer Wall.