Answer:
Tom’s age is 7 years
Mary’s age is 13 years
Explanation:
Since we do not know the ages, let’s represent the ages by variables at first.
Let m represent mary’s age will t represent Tom’s age.
Now, let’s proceed to have equations.
Adding square of Tom’s age (t^2) to mary’s age give 62
t^2 + m = 62 •••••••(i)
Adding square of mary’s age (m^2) to Tom’s age give 176
m^2 + t = 176 •••••••(ii)
Now, to get the individual ages, we will need to solve both equations simultaneously.
Solving both equations simultaneously without mathematical softwares can be a little hard.
By the use of mathematical software ( wolfram alpha to be specific), we can input both equations and allow the software to solve.
By inputing these equations, we have the values of t to be 7 and m to be 13
And if we try to check by inspection, we can see that these values are actually correct.
7^2 + 13 = 62
13^2 + 7 = 176