Answer:
71 and 73
Step-by-step explanation:
First, set up an equation: let x be the smaller number, and let x+2 be the bigger one.
Then, since these two number's sum is 144, we can set up the equation x+(x+2) = 144.
Solve for x: 2x+2=144 -> 2x = 142 -> x = 71
As the smaller number is defined as x, we solved for the smaller number: 71. The bigger number is defined as x+2, so the bigger number is just going to be 2 more than the smaller number, which is 73.
Therefore, we arrive at our answers 71 and 73.
