Question

Jamal will be a years old in four years’ time. How old was he eight years ago in
terms of a?

Answer 1

Answer:

Of course, with a little experience with this kind of problem, you can simply subtract 12 from his age 4 years from now to get his age 8 years ago, since there is a difference of 12 years between "4 years from now" and "8 years ago"

Answer 2

Step-by-step explanation:

Subtract 4 from his age 4 years from now (a) to get his current age. (How do you write "4 less than a"?)

Then subtract 8 from his current age to get is age 8 years ago. (How do you write -- and simplify -- "8 less than 4 less than a"?)

Of course, with a little experience with this kind of problem, you can simply subtract 12 from his age 4 years from now to get his age 8 years ago, since there is a difference of 12 years between "4 years from now" and "8 years ago".