Question

2 years ago father was 5 times as old as his son. after 2 years his age will be 8 more than 3 times the age of his son find their present ages.

Answer 1

let f = father's present age
let s = son's age
:
Write an equation for each statement, simplify as much as possible.
:
" two years ago , a father was five times old as his son ."
f - 2 = 5(s-2)
f - 2 = 5s - 10
f = 5s - 10 + 2
f = 5s - 8 
"two years later from today his age will be 8 years more than three times the age of his son "
f + 2 = 3(s+2) + 8
f + 2 = 3s + 6 + 8
f = 3s + 14 - 2
f = 3s + 12
replace f with (5s-8), from the 1st statement
5s - 8 = 3s + 12
5s - 3s = 12 + 8
2s = 20
s = 10 yrs is the son's age
then
f = 5(10) - 8
f = 42 yrs is father's age
:
you can confirm this by putting these ages in both original statements