A father said to his son, "I was as old as you are at present at the time of your birth." If the father's age is 38 years now, the son's age five years back was?

Explanation

Let the son's present age be x. When he was born x years ago, his father was 38 - x. The statement says that age equalled the son's present age, so 38 - x = x, giving x = 19. Five years ago, the son was 19 - 5 = 14.