Question

A man age is three times his sons age. ten years ago was five times his sons age. find their current age.

Answer 1

Answer:

The son is 20

The man is 60

Step-by-step explanation:

We can set up this equation with what we know. Let m stand for the Man's current age, and let s stand for his son's current age.

We know the Man's current age is three times that of his son, so this equation can be written as: m = 3s

Ten years ago means the man's current age minus 10 years. So it is m-10. So ten years ago he was 5 times his son's age 10 years ago, 5(s-10)

This can be written as: m-10=5(s-10)

Solve with either substitution or elimination, the choice is yours, it doesn't really matter which method you use. I'll be using substitution.

m-10=5(s-10)

3s-10= 5s-50

40=2s

20 = s

The son is 20 years old.

We know the man is currently 3 times his son's age, because m=3s, so just solve for m since you now know the value of s.

m=3s

m=3(20)

m=60

The man is 60 years old