the sum of the ages of kristen and ben is 32 four years ago kristen was twice as old as ben how old are they both now
I would recommend creating some equations.
So... represent one of the people's ages with x and another person's with why and convert the statements of twice and the sum of their ages to different mathematical operations like multiplication or addition.
So Kristen start with Kristen being Y and Ben being X and see what equations you get. Once you have two equations you can solve for your two unknowns x and y.
The sum of the ages of Kristen and Ben is 32. Four years ago Kristen was
twice as old as Ben. How old are they both now?
To solve this problem, let's break it down step by step.
Let's assign variables to the unknowns:
- Let's say Kristen's current age is K.
- Let's say Ben's current age is B.
According to the problem:
1. "The sum of the ages of Kristen and Ben is 32."
So, we can write the first equation: K + B = 32.
2. "Four years ago, Kristen was twice as old as Ben."
Let's calculate their ages four years ago:
- Kristen's age four years ago: K - 4
- Ben's age four years ago: B - 4
The second equation we can form is: K - 4 = 2 * (B - 4).
Now we have two equations with two variables. We can solve the system of equations using substitution or elimination method:
Let's use the substitution method:
1. Solve the first equation for K: K = 32 - B.
2. Substitute K in the second equation: (32 - B) - 4 = 2 * (B - 4).
3. Simplify the equation: 28 - B = 2B - 8.
4. Move all the terms involving B to one side and simplify further: 3B = 36.
5. Divide both sides by 3: B = 12.
Now we know Ben's current age is 12. To find Kristen's age, substitute the value of B into one of the original equations:
K + 12 = 32.
K = 20.
So, Kristen is currently 20 years old, and Ben is currently 12 years old.