<PRE><B>Question 1144696</B>
.


&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;The given instructions in the post only make the solution harder.


&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Let me to present you my solution in much more simple way.



&lt;pre&gt;
Let x be the John age.

Then the Joan age is (x+4) years, according the condition.


We are given  

    x + (x+4) = 126.

Hence,  

    2x + 4 = 126,

    2x     = 126 - 4 = 122,

     x               = 122/2 = 61.


37 years ago, when they were married,  John was  61 - 37 = 24 years old.

Joan was  24+4 = 28 years old at that time.    &lt;U&gt;ANSWER&lt;/U&gt;
&lt;/pre&gt;

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It is a bad teacher who instructs to solve a problem in a hard way, without any reason.


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