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

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