Laura is 3 times as old as maria was when laura was as old as maria is now. in 2 years laura will be twice as old as maria was 2 years ago. how old are they now?

Laura is 30 years old and Maria is 18 years old.

Step-by-step explanation:

Let x be the present age of Laura and y be that of Maria.

Laura was 3 times older than Maria when Laura had Maria's present age.

Lets say Laura had Maria's present age(y) k years before.Then Maria's age at that time will be y-k where k=(x-y).

Then:

y=3(y-k)

y=3(y-(x-y))

y=3(2y-x)

3x=5y  1

After two years Laura will become x+2 years old and 2 years ago Maria was y-2 years old. Then:

x+2=2(y-2)

x=2y-62

Solving 1 and 2 we get:

x=30 and y=18

Hence Laura's present age is 30 and Maria's present age is 18.

yes the total will be same because in both of them the expression.is rearranged but their sign remains the same hence it hss just been shuffled