The jackson's have two pet dogs named beau and max. beau is 2 years older than max. the sum of their ages is 16 years. how old is beau? how old is max.

Step-by-step explanation:

Let the dogs' ages be represented by b and m.

  b + m = 16

  b - m = 2

Adding these equations gives ...

  2b = 18

  b = 9 . . . . . . divide by 2

  m = 7 . . . . . . 2 years younger than Beau

Beau is 9; Max is 7.

Once you realize the above solution is generic, you can write down the answer that (older) Beau is half the sum of the given numbers: (16 +2)/2 = 9. Then Max's age is easily found, or it can be computed as half the difference of the given numbers: (16 -2)/2 = 7.