Currently, Mike is 8 years more than twice Tom's age. In 3 years from now, Mike's age
will be three times Tom's age. What are their current ages?

The current age of Mike is 12 years old while that of Tom is 2 years old.

Step-by-step explanation:

Let the current age of Mike be m years old and that of Tom be t years old.

Currently

m= 2t +8

3 years from now

Tom's age= t +3

Mike's age

= m +3

= 2t +8 +3

= 2t +11

Given that in three years, Mike's age is 3 times Tom's age,

2t +11= 3(t +3)

Expand:

2t +11= 3t +9

3t -2t= 11 -9

t= 2

Current age of Mike

= 2t +8

= 2(2) +8

= 4 +8

= 12

a negative exponent is translated as follows:

so, we have