John is now 10 years older than Marcus. Three times Johns age 5 years from now will be the same age as Marcus age 5 years ago. Write the equation and solve

Now:

Marcus ---- x
John ------ x+10

5 years from now:
John's age = x+15

5 years ago:
Marcus = x-5
3(x+15) = x-5
that would give you the silly answer of x = -25

checking
now Marcus is -25
John is -15

5 years from now, John is -10
and 5 years ago Marcus was -30
sure enough 3 times John's age (or -30) equals Marcus' age .

Mathematically it works, but in reality this question is bogus.
Check your typing or else tell your teacher that the question makes no sense.

To write the equation for this problem, let's first define the variables. Let x be Marcus's current age. Since John is 10 years older than Marcus, John's current age would be x + 10.

Now, let's add the given information. Three times John's age 5 years from now will be the same as Marcus's age 5 years ago.

John's age 5 years from now will be (x + 10) + 5, and three times that will be 3(x + 15).

Marcus's age 5 years ago would be x - 5.

Now our equation becomes: 3(x + 15) = x - 5.

Let's solve this equation step by step:

1. Distribute 3 over x + 15: 3x + 45 = x - 5.
2. Subtract x from both sides: 3x - x + 45 = -5.
3. Simplify: 2x + 45 = -5.
4. Subtract 45 from both sides: 2x = -50.
5. Divide both sides by 2: x = -25.

However, since age cannot be negative, the solution -25 does not make sense in this context.

Therefore, there seems to be no valid solution to this problem based on the given information.