Question

Miriam is four years older than Ricardo. Ten years ago
Miriam was 3 times as old as Ricardo was then.
a. How old are they now?

Answer 1

let x be Miriam's age, then Ricardo's age = x-4
tens years ago implies:
x-10 = 3(x-4-10) now simplify and solve for x
x-10 = 3x -42
then 2x = 32 which implies x = 16 so Miriam is 16 years old and Ricardo is 12 years old