Question

A man is 32 years older than his son. Ten years ago he was three times as old as his son was then. Find the present age of each

Answer 1

Son: 26 yrs. Dad: 58 yrs.

Explanation:

Let s equal to the present age of the son and let d equal to the present age of the dad. We can make two equations based on the information given to us. The first is about the fact that the dad is 32 yrs. older than the son:

d = s+32

the second is about the fact that 10 yrs. ago, he was triple his son's age.

d-10 = 3(s-10)

We can use the distributive property and we have:

d-10 = 3s-30

Then, let's add 10 to each side:

d = 3s-20

We can substitute the first equation into the second, resulting in:

s+32 = 3s-20

Adding 20 to both sides:

s+52 = 3s

2s = 52

s = 26

Now that we have the son's age, the dad's age is 26+32 = 58.

Son's age: 26

Dad's age: 58