Question 1144005
let c = age of charles now.
let e = age of elliot now.
today, you get c = 5 * e
two years from now, you get c + 2 = 3 * (e + 2)
in the second equation, simplify to get c + 2 = 3 * e + 6
subtract 2 from both sides of that equation to get c = 3 * e + 4
you have c = 5 * e and you have c = 3 * e + 4
this means that 5 * e = 3 * e + 4
subtract 3 * e from both sides of that equation to get 2 * e = 4
solve for e to get e = 2.
today, c = 5 * e results in c = 10
two years from now, c + 2 = 3 * (e + 2) results in 12 = 3 * 4
the solution is confirmed to be good.
the solution is that charles is 10 years old now and elliot is 2 years old now.
in two years charles will be 12 and elliot will be 4.