A boy is 42 years younger than his father .In 8 years' times , he will be 1/4 times as old as his father .Find their present ages.

now:

father ---- x
son ------ x - 42

in 8 years:
father = x+8
son = x-42 + 8 = x - 34

x - 34 = (1/4)(x + 8)
x - 34 = x/4 + 2
each term times 4
4x - 136 = x + 8
3x = 144
x = 48

The father is now 48 and the son is now 6

check:
in 8 years, dad will be 56
son will be 14, and 14 is 1/4 of 56
All is good!

Let's represent the boy's age as x and the father's age as y.

According to the given information, the boy is 42 years younger than his father, so we have the equation:

x = y - 42

In 8 years' time, the boy's age will be x + 8, and the father's age will be y + 8. It is also stated that the boy will be 1/4 times as old as his father, so another equation can be made:

x + 8 = 1/4(y + 8)

Now we have a system of two equations with two variables. We can solve this system to find the present ages.

Substituting the value of x from the first equation into the second equation:

(y - 42) + 8 = 1/4(y + 8)

Simplifying the equation:

y - 34 = 1/4y + 2

Multiply both sides of the equation by 4 to remove the fraction:

4(y - 34) = y + 8

Expanding and simplifying the equation:

4y - 136 = y + 8

Subtracting y from both sides:

3y - 136 = 8

Adding 136 to both sides:

3y = 144

Dividing both sides by 3:

y = 48

Now we can substitute the value of y back into the first equation to find x:

x = y - 42
x = 48 - 42
x = 6

Therefore, the present age of the boy is 6 years and the present age of the father is 48 years.

To solve this problem, let's assign variables to the ages of the boy and his father.

Let x represent the boy's current age.
Then, the father's current age would be x + 42, since the boy is 42 years younger than his father.

In 8 years' time, the boy's age will be x + 8, and the father's age will be (x + 42) + 8 = x + 50.

According to the problem, the boy's age in 8 years will be 1/4 times the father's age in 8 years. We can represent this statement mathematically as:

(x + 8) = 1/4 * (x + 50)

To solve for x, we can multiply both sides of the equation by 4 to eliminate the fraction:

4 * (x + 8) = x + 50

Distribute the 4 on the left side:

4x + 32 = x + 50

Next, we can simplify the equation by subtracting x from both sides:

3x + 32 = 50

Subtract 32 from both sides:

3x = 18

Finally, divide both sides by 3:

x = 6

So, the boy's current age is 6 years old.
The father's current age is x + 42 = 6 + 42 = 48 years old.