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):
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):
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