The sum of Mr. Adams and Mrs. Benson's age is 55. The difference is 3. What are their ages?

Discussion in 'Calculator Requests' started by math_celebrity, Apr 24, 2021.

  1. math_celebrity

    math_celebrity Administrator Staff Member

    The sum of Mr. Adams and Mrs. Benson's age is 55. The difference is 3. What are their ages?

    Givens
    • Let Mr. Adam's age be a
    • Let Mrs. Benson's age be b
    • We're given two equations where sum means we add and difference means we subtract:
    1. a + b = 55
    2. a - b = 3
    Since we have opposite coefficients for b, we can take a shortcut and add equation 1 to equation 2:
    (a + a) + (b - b) = 55 + 3

    Combining like terms and simplifying, we get:
    2a = 58

    To solve this equation for a, we type it in our search engine and we get:
    a = 29

    If a = 29, then we plug this into equation (1) to get:
    29 + b = 55
    b = 55 - 29
    b = 26

     
    Last edited: Jan 8, 2024

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