In 18 years time halley will be five times as old as she was two years ago. write this information in the form of an equation involving halley's present age, a years how old is halley now?

To solve any questions relating to ages, I find it easier to make a table, like in the picture below.

See picture for answer and clear diagram.

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Notes/Explanations + answer in written form

Let's say that Halley's age now is:              x

That means that her age in 18 years is:      x + 18

It also means that her age 2 years ago is:   x - 2

In the question, we are told that when Halley is 18 years older that her current age, she will be 5 times the age she was when she was 2 years younger than her current age

That means:

Halley's current age + 18 years = 5 times (Halley's current age - 2 years)

So we get this equation (which we solve to get the answer) :

x + 18 = 5 * (x -2)                       ( expand the brackets)

x + 18 = 5x - 10                           (subtract x from both sides)

18 = 4x - 10                                 (add 10 to both sides)

28 = 4x                                       (now divide both sides by 4)

7 = x

Therefore, Halley's current age is 7 years