Question

Ramesh and Suresh are $20$ years old and $12$ years old respectively. Find how many years ago, the age of Ramesh was twice that of Suresh.

Answer 1

Step-1: To form the linear equation:

$x$ years ago, the age of the Suresh is $20-x$.

Also, the age of the Ramesh is $12$$-x$.

As per the question, the age of Ramesh was twice that of Suresh $x$ years ago.

Therefore, the required equation is $20-x=2\left(12-x\right)$..

Step-2: To solve the equation $20-x=2\left(12-x\right)$:

$\Rightarrow$ $20-x=2\left(12-x\right)$

$\Rightarrow$ $20-x=24-2x$

$\Rightarrow$$20-x-24=-2x$

$\Rightarrow$ $20-24=-2x+x$

$\Rightarrow$ $-4=-2x+x$

$\Rightarrow$ $-4=-x$

or $x=4$.

Thus, $4$ years ago, the age of Ramesh was twice that of Suresh.