SOLUTION: Rachel is now three times as old as Mike but in five years she will only be twice as old as Mike. How old is Rachel now?

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Question 1102968: Rachel is now three times as old as Mike but in five years she will only be twice as old as Mike. How old is Rachel now?
Found 2 solutions by ikleyn, addingup:
Answer by ikleyn(52832) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
.
R = 3M            (1)    (now)
R+5 = 2*(M+5)     (2)    (in 5 years)


Substitute (1) into equation (2). You will get

3M + 5 = 2*(M+5)  ====>

3M + 5 = 2M + 10

3M - 2M = 10 - 5  ====>  M = 5.


Answer.  Mike is 5 years old.  Rachel is 15 years old.

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There is a bunch of lessons on age word problems
    - Age problems and their solutions
    - A fresh formulation of a traditional age problem
    - Really intricate age word problem
    - Selected age word problems from the archive
    - Age problems for mental solution
in this site.

Read them and become an expert in solving age problems.

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    - ALGEBRA-I - YOUR ONLINE TEXTBOOK.

The referred lessons are the part of this online textbook under the topic "Age word problems".


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Free of charge online textbook in ALGEBRA-I
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to your archive and use it when it is needed.



Answer by addingup(3677) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
R = 3M use this value for R next
R+5 = 2(M+5) substitute for R here
3M+5 = 2M+10
M = 5 and R = 3M = 3 x 5 = 15