Question

Sally is 12 years old and Uncle Mike is three times as old. How many years must pass before her Uncle Mike is only twice as old as Sally? How many years ago was Uncle Mike 7 times as old?

Answer 1

Uncle Mike was 7 times as old as Sally 17 years ago.

Explanation:

Let's call Uncle Mike's current age "x."

Sally is 12 years old, so x = 12 * 3 = 36 years old.

We are looking for years that must pass before Uncle Mike is only twice as old as Sally. So we need to find the age when x = 2 * (12 + n), where n is the number of years that have passed. Solving for n:

36 = 2 * (12 + n)

36 = 24 + 2n

12 = 2n

n = 6

So, six years must pass before Uncle Mike is only twice as old as Sally.

To find out how many years ago Uncle Mike was 7 times as old as Sally, we need to find the age when x = 7 * (12 - m), where m is the number of years ago. Solving for m:

36 = 7 * (12 - m)

36 = 84 - 7m

120 = 7m

m = 17

So, Uncle Mike was seven times as old as Sally 17 years ago.