Question 1186088
let m be the age of the mother.
let s be the age of the son.


the sum of the ages of the mother and son is 60.
this gets you:
m + s = 60


the mother is currently 4 times as old as her son.
this gets you:
m = 4s


replace m with 4s in the first equation to get:


m + s = 60 becomes 4s + s = 60
combine like terms to get:
5s = 60
solve for x to get:
s = 60/5 = 12.


m = 4s becomes m = 4*12 which becomes m = 48


the mother is 48 and the son is 12.
the sum of their ages is 60
the mother is 48/12 = 4 times the ages of her son.