Sally is 4 years older than Tim. Together, the sum of their ages is 20. How old is each person?

1 Answer
Nov 17, 2015

Tim is 8 and Sally is 12.

Explanation:

You can represent each person's age using variables. Let x = Tim's age. Because Sally is 4 years older than Tim, you can represent her age as 4 + x.

Sally's Age = 4 + x
Tim's Age = x

The sum of their ages is 20, so add both expressions.

(4+x) + (x) = 20.
4 + 2x = 20
2x = 16
x = 8

x represents Tim's age, so Tim is 8. Sally is 4 years older, so Sally is 12.