Answer: The father is 49 years old and the son is 7 years old
Step-by-step explanation: Let the son’s age be y and if the father is seven times as old as his son, then the father’s age would be expressed as 7 times y, or 7y.
Also the sum of their ages is 56 years which means son’s age plus father’s age equals 56. That is;
y + 7y = 56
8y = 56
Divide both sides of the equation by 8
y = 7
Therefore if y is 7, then
7y = 7(7)
7y = 49
Therefore it means the father is 49 years old while the son is 7 years old