Ben is 12 years older than Ishaan. Ben and Ishaan first met two years ago. Three years ago, Ben was 4 times as old as Ishaan. How old is Ben now?

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Denoting Ben and Ishaan's ages: Let's denote Ben's current age as B and Ishaan's current age as I. According to the problem, Ben is 12 years older than Ishaan, which gives us our first equation: B = I + 12Equation 1: Ben is 12 years older: The problem states that three years ago, Ben was 4 times as old as Ishaan. We need to account for the age difference three years ago. So, we subtract 3 from their current ages and set up our second equation: B - 3 = 4 * (I - 3)Equation 2: Age difference three years ago: Now we have a system of two equations: 1) B = I + 12 2) B - 3 = 4 * (I - 3) We can use substitution or elimination to solve this system. Let's use substitution since we already have B expressed in terms of I in the first equation.System of equations: Substitute B from the first equation into the second equation: (I + 12) - 3 = 4 * (I - 3) Now, let's solve for I: I + 9 = 4I - 12Substitution to solve the system: Rearrange the equation to get all terms involving I on one side: 9 + 12 = 4I - I 21 = 3ISolving for Ishaan's age: Divide both sides by 3 to find I: 21 / 3 = I I = 7Finding Ben's age: Now that we have Ishaan's current age, we can find Ben's current age using the first equation: B = I + 12 B = 7 + 12 B = 19

Ben is \(12\) years older than Ishaan. Ben and Ishaan first met two years ago. Three years ago, Ben was \(4\) times as old as Ishaan. $\newline$ How old is Ben now?

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Ben is \(12\) years older than Ishaan. Ben and Ishaan first met two years ago. Three years ago, Ben was \(4\) times as old as Ishaan.\newlineHow old is Ben now?

Ben is \(12\) years older than Ishaan. Ben and Ishaan first met two years ago. Three years ago, Ben was \(4\) times as old as Ishaan. $\newline$ How old is Ben now?