Joy is 20 years older than Bob. Three years ago, Joy was 5 times as old as Bob. How old are they now?

ages now:

Bob ---- x
Joy -----x+20

ages 3 years ago:
Bob --- x-3
Joy ---- x+20 - 3 = x+17

at that time, Joy was 5 times as old as Bob
---> x+17 = 5(x-3)

x+17 = 5x - 15
-4x = - 32
x = 33/4 = 8

Bob is now 8 years, Joy is 28

Three years ago, Bob was 5 ,and Joy was 25
Was she 5 times as old as Bob, YES!!

67087-

To solve this problem, let's assign variables to the ages of Joy and Bob.

Let J be Joy's current age.
Let B be Bob's current age.

According to the problem, Joy is 20 years older than Bob, so we can write the equation:
J = B + 20 --- (Equation 1)

Three years ago, Joy was 5 times as old as Bob, which can be written as:
J - 3 = 5(B - 3) --- (Equation 2)

Now, let's solve this system of equations.

Substitute the value of J from Equation 1 into Equation 2:
(B + 20) - 3 = 5(B - 3)

Simplify the equation:
B + 17 = 5B - 15

Now, let's solve for B:

Subtract B from both sides:
17 = 4B - 15

Add 15 to both sides:
32 = 4B

Divide both sides by 4:
B = 8

Now that we have found Bob's current age, we can substitute this value into Equation 1 to find Joy's age:
J = B + 20
J = 8 + 20
J = 28

Therefore, Bob is currently 8 years old, and Joy is currently 28 years old.