SOLUTION: bill is 3 years older than tom. five years ago bill was twice tom age. how old are they each now? i dont know where to start i tried and tried but dont know if it is right x+3+2

Question 412167: bill is 3 years older than tom. five years ago bill was twice tom age. how old are they each now?
i dont know where to start i tried and tried but dont know if it is right
x+3+2(5-x)
x+3+2x-10
3x+3-10
Found 3 solutions by solver91311, jim_thompson5910, josmiceli:
Answer by solver91311(24713)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!

Let represent Tom's age. Then must represent Bill's age.

Five years ago, Tom was and Bill was . And then we know that Bill then was twice Tom then, so:

Solve for

John

My calculator said it, I believe it, that settles it

Answer by jim_thompson5910(35256)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Let x = Tom's age right now.

Now set up a table (this is optional, but it may help)

Now | Five Years Ago --------------------------- Tom x | x-5 Bill x+3 | (x+3)-5

Basically we have two columns which represent Tom and Bill's age now and five years ago.

Since x is Tom's age, an 'x' goes in the row Tom and the column Now.

Since "bill is 3 years older than tom", an 'x+3' goes in the Bill row and Now column.

To get the second column, simply subtract 3 from each value in the first column.

So we know that Tom is x-5 years old and Bill is (x+3)-5 or x-2 years old five years ago

Now because "five years ago bill was twice tom age", we know that . So let's solve this equation.

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.

Since x is Tom's age now, this means that Tom is currently 8 years old.

Because Bill is 3 years older than Tom, this means Bill is 8+3 = 11 years old.

Now subtract 5 from both their ages (to get their ages 5 years ago) to get Tom to be 8-5 = 3 and Bill to be 11-5 = 6.

So five years ago, Tom was 3 and Bill was 6. Notice that 6 is exactly twice (two times) that of 3.

If you need more help, email me at jim_thompson5910@hotmail.com

Also, please consider visiting my website: http://www.freewebs.com/jimthompson5910/home.html and making a donation. Thank you

Jim
Answer by josmiceli(19441)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Let = Bill's age now
Let = Tom's age now
given:
(1)
(2)
Substitute (1) into (2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
and, since
(1)
(1)
(1)
Bill is 11 now and Tom is 8 now
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