Answer: Their ages at the present time are; Mr Perez {42 years}, his daughter {14 years}
Step-by-step explanation: The first step in answering a question of this nature is to convert the word problem into figures as much as possible. However we are not given the ages of either Mr Perez or that of his daughter. But we have a clue; Mr Perez is three times his daughter’s age currently. So if his daughter’s age is represented by d, that means Mr Perez’ age would be represented by 3d (... 3 times as old as his daughter).
In fifteen years’ time, their ages would become plus fifteen each, that is
d + 15 and 3d + 15
Note also that in fifteen years’ time, their ages would add up to 86, which means
d + 15 + (3d + 15) = 86
d + 15 + 3d + 15 = 86
4d + 30 = 86
Subtract 30 from both sides of the equation
4d = 56
Divide both sides of the equation by 4
d = 14
Having calculated d = 14, we now have
Mr Perez’ daughter’s age as 14 and Mr Perez’ age as 42 (3d).