Mindbender

A: "That's right. Steve and the two girls," said Tom. "They re all spaced evenly, with Steve in the middle." "How old are they now?" asked Paul.

"Work it out," replied Tom. "The square of Steve's age is twice the difference between the squares of the girls ages, but six years ago it would have been one and a half times as much, instead of twice."

Well?

B: "They have sales taxes here in Kalota," said Ron. "Government tax twelve per cent, Knokado city tax five per cent on retail price. When calculating the amount of either tax you deduct the amount of the other tax from the retail price of the item. For example, a camera I saw today was priced at 497 krus. What taxes would I pay on that?"

Well?