a man is four times as old as his son in five years time he will be three times as old as his son what is the present age of the son in years

I would start by setting up a chart like I did below.

Label one column age now and the other age in 5 years.

Since we don't know the son's age we use x.

We do know that the man's age is 4 times the son's age.

So the man's age will be 4x.

In the age in 5 year column, we add 5 to their current ages.

Now set up our equation.

Since it says "in five years" we use information in second column.

In 5 years time, he, "4x + 5", will be, equals,

3 times as old as his son, "3(x + 5)".

So we have 4x + 5 = 3(x + 5).

Solving from here, we find that x = 10.

So the son is 10 and the man is 4 times his age or 40.

step-by-step explanation:

a and e is the answer.