Roy is 96 years younger than rachel 6 years ago rachel's age was four times roy's age how old is roy now

Why do they have to have names starting with same letter

x=roy's age now
y=rachel's age now

roy is 96 years younger than rachel
x=y-96

6 years ago (x-6 and y-6), rachel's age was 4 times roy's age
so
y-6=4(x-6)

so
x=y-96 and
y-6=4(x-6)

use x=y-96
add 96 both sides
x+96=y
subsiute x+96 for y in other equation

y-6=4(x-6)
x+96-6=4(x-6)
x+90=4(x-6)
distribute
x+90=4x-24
add 24 to both sides
x+114=4x
minus x both sides
114=3x
divide both sides by 3
38=x
x=38
roy is 38 years old now