SOLUTION: I am stuck on this word problem:
Mike and Emily are brother and sister. Mike is twice as old as Emily was four years ago. In six years Emily will be four times as old as Mike was
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Question 716720: I am stuck on this word problem:
Mike and Emily are brother and sister. Mike is twice as old as Emily was four years ago. In six years Emily will be four times as old as Mike was eight years ago. How old are Mike and Emily now?
I have formula: Mike...M=2(E-4)
Emily....E-6=4M-8
Am I headed in the right direction?
Thanks
Answer by solver91311(24713) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
)
works just fine for the first relationship described, but you went way off track with the other one.
"In six years..." means six years from now, in other words, how old Emily is now PLUS six. 
is correct for Mike's age eight years ago, but Emily plus 6 has to be 4 times the quantity . All of that to say:
)
Now all you need to do is solve the 2X2 system for the values of 
and 
. Hint: Since your first equation defines as a function of you can substitute the RHS of the first equation into the second equation in place of . Then you solve for and the rest is trivial.
John
Egw to Beta kai to Sigma
My calculator said it, I believe it, that settles it
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