SOLUTION: Daryl is one-half of her brother's age now. Two years ago, her brother was two more than twice Daryl's age. Give their ages 8 years.

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Question 1132336: Daryl is one-half of her brother's age now. Two years ago, her brother was two more than twice Daryl's age. Give their ages 8 years.
Answer by greenestamps(13203) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!

Let Daryl's age be x; then her brother's age is 2x.

2 years ago, Daryl's age was x-2 and her brother's age was 2x-2.

The problem says that 2 years ago her brother's age was 2 more than twice her age:

The two expressions are the same; the equation is true for any value of x.

That means there is no unique answer to the problem. That is easily verified by choosing any value of x:

x = 5 --> their current ages are 5 and 10; 2 years ago they were 3 and 8; 8 = 2(3)+2 = 8

x = 11 --> their current ages are 11 and 22; 2 years ago they were 9 and 20; 20 = 2(9)+2 = 20

x = 35 --> their current ages are 35 and 70; 2 years ago they were 33 and 68; 68 = 2(33)+2 = 68

etc....