SOLUTION: Need help to show my daughter how to solve this Word Problem. Two childrens ages together are 14. One child is 4 years older than the other. How old is each child.

Question 734040: Need help to show my daughter how to solve this Word Problem.
Two childrens ages together are 14. One child is 4 years older than the other. How old is each child.
Answer by josgarithmetic(39618) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
In trying to guess the level of your daughter, I resort by default to basic elementary algebra. "Two childrens ages together are 14", makes me think because it's so imprecise, elementary school. Probably the meaning is "addition".

Two kids, mAyor and mEnor for the older and the younger. Call their ages A and E.

A+E=14 and according to the other information, I'd like to simply say, A-E=4, but not sure at what level is your daugher. This is as simple as can be shown in number symbols. Those two variables. We can subtract the lower age from the higher age, and stay with positive numbers.
These then work together:
A+E=14 and A-E=4.

Solve either equation for either variable, no difference which. I will do this-----
A-E=4, A-E+E=4+E, A=4+E.
Substitute A as found there into the other equation.
(4+E)+E=14, 4+2E=14, 2E=14-4, 2E=10, E=5. With E now having been found for its value, use it in either equation to find the value of A.
A=9.
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