SOLUTION: Stevie is twice as old as his brother. Four years ago he was four times as old as his brother. Find their present ages. Can anyone help me, I'm having a lot of trouble coming up w

Question 189681: Stevie is twice as old as his brother. Four years ago he was four times as old as his brother. Find their present ages. Can anyone help me, I'm having a lot of trouble coming up with an equation. I can't thank you guys enough!!

Answer by jim_thompson5910(35256) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Let s=Stevie's age and b=Brother's age

So this means that
s-4 = Stevie's age 4 years ago, and
b-4=Brother's age 4 years ago

"Stevie is twice as old as his brother" translates to

"Four years ago he was four times as old as his brother" translates to

Start with the second equation.

Plug in

Distribute.

Add to both sides.

Subtract from both sides.

Combine like terms on the left side.

Combine like terms on the right side.

Divide both sides by to isolate .

Reduce.

So Stevie's brother is currently 6 years old. Also, he was 2 years old 4 years ago.

Go back to the first equation

Plug in

Multiply

So Stevie is currently 12 years old. Four years ago, he was 8 years old. Notice how (ie 8 yrs old is 4 times greater than 2 yrs old)
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