Question

eight years ago. a man was four years less than three times as old as his son's age.six years from now.he will be twice as old as his son.how old are they now?

Answer 1

(M-8) = 3(S-8) - 4
(M+6) = 2(S+6)

Answer 2

M stands for the Man's age presently
S stands for the man's Son's age presently
"eight years ago" so minusing 8 from both the man and the son in the first equation
"six years from now" so adding 6 to both the man and the son in the second equation

Answer 3

can you give me the complete solutions?

Answer 4

how about we try to solve it together?
simplify the equations using distributive property
(M-8) = 3(S-8) - 4
(M+6) = 2(S+6)

Answer 5

thanks a lot :D

Answer 6

so (M-8) = 3(S-8) - 4 becomes M-8 = 3S - 24 - 4

and (M+6) = 2(S+6) becomes M+6 = 2S + 12

Answer 7

then m=2s+6?

Answer 8

yes!
so then since M = M
you can plug in what you got into the first equation
so 2s+6 = 3s+20 solve for s

Answer 9

the answer will be negative?

Answer 10

oh sorry! typo
2s+6 = 3s-20

Answer 11

m-8? where is the 8?

Answer 12

carried it over

2s+6 - 8 = 3s - 24 - 4
2s + 6 = 3s - 28 + 8
2s + 6 = 3s - 20

Answer 13

how can i compute m?

Answer 14

first find s then you can plug s back into one of the original equations to get m :)

Answer 15

thanks a lot

Answer 16

glad I can help :)