Let m be Mike's age. Then Sam's age = m + 5.
In 6 years, Mike's age will be m + 6, and Sam's age will be m + 5 + 6 = m + 11.
Now we can write the following equation:
[tex]\frac{m+11}{2}=m+6-7[/tex]
which reduces to:
[tex]\frac{m+11}{2}=m-1[/tex]
Cross-multiplying we get:
m + 11 = 2m - 2
which when solved gives m = 13. Therefore Sam's age now is 13 + 5 = 18.
The answer is 18 years old.
