2 equations: the first one is the sum of 2 unknown numbers x and y: x + y = 72. Now the difference is 25, so x - y = 25. Solve the first equation for y: y = 72 - x. Sub that into the second equation to solve for x: x - (72 - x) = 25. x - 72 + x = 25 and 2x - 72 = 25. Therefore, 2x = 97 and x = 48.5 That's the larger of the 2 numbers; since we subtracted y from x we defined x as the larger of the 2. Just for fun, plug x in to find that y = 23.5
Scientific notation is a way of expressing numbers that are too large or too small to be conveniently written in decimal form. It may be referred to as scientific form or standard index form, or standard form in the UK.
