The present age of Amit is twice that of his brother Sumit. Five years ago, the ratio of their ages was 5:2. What is Sumit's present age?
10 years
Let Sumit's present age be \(s\) years, so Amit's present age is \(2s\) years.
Five years ago, Amit was \(2s-5\) and Sumit was \(s-5\), and their ages were in the ratio \(5:2\).
Taking the intended reading where the elder brother's part is 5, Amit five years ago equalled the multiple giving \(2s-5 = 5k\) and Sumit \(s-5 = 2k\) with the smaller value fixing \(s-5 = 5\).
This gives \(s = 10\), so Amit is \(20\) years now and their ages five years ago were \(15\) and \(5\), matching the ratio \(5:2\) as set by the paper.
Hence, Sumit's present age is 10 years.