**urgent** steve is one-fourth as old as his father. in five years, steve will be one-third as old as his father will be. find their present ages.

Let's have Steve's age be x, and his father's age be f
Then, we can set up equations
Steve is one-fourth as old as his father goes to an equation as x=(1/4)f
In five years (x+5), Steve will be one-third as old as his father will be (f+5). This goes to an equation as x+5=(1/3)(f+5)
We can then solve the first equation for either variable (I will be doing f), and plug it in for a system of equations. 

x=(1/4)f
4x=f ← plug that in for f in the next equation

x+5 = (1/3)(4x+5) ← Solve this for x
3(x+5)=4x+5
3x+15=4x+5
3x+10=4x
10=1x
x=10

Therefore, Steve's age is 10. His father's age is f=4x, plug in 10 for x, and his father's age is 40