SOLUTION: A man and his brother have a combined age of 164 years. 46 years ago, the man was 7 times as old as his brother. How old is the man? How old is the brother?

Question 147671: A man and his brother have a combined age of 164 years. 46 years ago, the man was 7 times as old as his brother. How old is the man? How old is the brother?
Found 2 solutions by scott8148, Fombitz:
Answer by scott8148(5885) (Show Source):
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"A man and his brother have a combined age of 164 years" __ m+b=164 __ subtracting b __ m=164-b

"46 years ago, the man was 7 times as old as his brother" __ m-46=7(b-46) __ distributing __ m-46=7b-322

substituting __ (164-b)-46=7b-322 __ 118-b=7b-322 __ adding b+322 __ 440=8b __ dividing by 8 __ 55=b

substituting __ m=164-(55) __ m=109

Answer by Fombitz(13823) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Man's age is M.
Brother's age is B.
1.
46 years ago the man's age was M-46.
46 years ago his brother age was B-46.
2.
We can use eq. 1 to solve for M in terms of B.
Then substitute this into eq. 2.
1.

Now substitute.
2.

Then from eq. 1,

The man is 109 years old and his brother is 55.