The sum of two numbers is 35 and the difference is 11. What are the numbers?

x=23

y=12

Step-by-step explanation:

Start by making two separate equations. One for each answer it gives you. So you know you will have two different numbers, therefore you need two different variables. I'm going to use x and y. The first part of the sentence says that the sum is 35 meaning we are going to add two numbers to get 35.

x+y=35

The second part says the difference of two numbers is 11, which means you are subtracting two numbers to get 11.

x-y=11

Now you can either decide to you substitution or elimination. I prefer elimination, so thats what I will be using. To do this you need to line up both equations.

x+y=35

x-y=11 Now you can add straight down. x+x=2x; y-y=0; 35+11=46. Write out what you have left

2x+0=46 You do not have to write the zero in the equation, I did so that you could see that the y's cancell each other.

It can also look like this 2x=46. Now you need to divide by 2 to get x by itself.

x=23

To find y you take the 23 and plug it for x in one of the equations you started with. I'm going to use the (x+y=35). No matter whihc you use your answer will be the same.

23+y=35 Subtract the 23 over to get y alone.

-23 - 23

y=12