The sum of two numbers is 49 the smaller number is 5 less than the larger number what are the numbers?

Answer 1

Jasmine

When building an algebraic equation you need to identify the variable and give them specific values. In this case the variables are the two numbers

we have smaller number and larger number

we do not know what either is but we do know what makes the smaller number different ( it is 5 less than the larger number)

therefore we call the larger number X ( because we know nothing about it) and call the smaller number X - 5 ( because it is 5 less than the larger number)

we also know that the sum ( which indicates addition) is 49

so our equation is

X + X - 5 = 49

Do you know how to take it from here?If not, please let me know and I can walk through the rest of the process ( remember X = larger number and X - 5 + smaller number)