document.write( "Question 1173746: Corrine is four (4) years older than Minah. Last year, the sum of their ages was 28. How old are they now? \n" ); document.write( "

Algebra.Com's Answer #799052 by greenestamps(13200) $\"\"$ $\"About$

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\n" ); document.write( "With formal algebra....

\n" ); document.write( "m = Minah's age
\n" ); document.write( "m+4 = Corrine's age (4 years older than Minah)
\n" ); document.write( "m-1 = Minah's age last year
\n" ); document.write( "m+3 = Corrine's age last year

\n" ); document.write( "The sum of their ages last year was 28:

\n" ); document.write( " $\"%28m-1%29%2B%28m%2B3%29+=+28\"$

\n" ); document.write( "Solve using basic algebra.

\n" ); document.write( "Solving informally can give you some good practice with logical reasoning and mental arithmetic:

\n" ); document.write( "Last year the sum of their ages was 28, so this year that sum is 30.
\n" ); document.write( "Now separate 30 into two ages that differ by 4. One way to do this easily mentally is to see that two identical ages 15 and 15 add to 30; to get two ages that differ by 4 you can add 2 to one of them and subtract 2 from the other to get the answers of 13 and 17.

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