I need help teaching my 2nd grader how to come up with the answer. Easy for an adult..difficult to explain to a child.

I am thinking of 2 numbers who sum is 15.
One of the numbers is 9 more than the other. Got the 12 plus 3 part. Help me explain it in its simplest terms

I'd use counters -- like M & Ms or pennies.

That is my thought but how do I pose the question? I took a deck of cards for counters and tried to figure out how to go about it.

THANK YOU by the way!

Put out 15 objects.

Then have your child take 9 of them away.

How many are left?

that's not the answer. its how to get her to 12 is 9 more than 3 that equals 15

start with your 15 objects

take 1 away, the pile left is 14 more than what she took away, and 14-1=13
take 2 away, the pile left is 13 more than what she took away, and 13-2=11
take 3 away, the pile left is 12 more than what she took away, and 12-3=9

ahhh, one is 3, the other is 12

for yourself:

x+y = 15
x-y = 9
add them
2x = 24
x=12 , then y = 3

To help your 2nd grader understand how to come up with the answer, you can break it down into simple steps:

Step 1: Start by understanding what the problem is asking. In this case, we need to find two numbers that add up to 15, and one number is 9 more than the other.

Step 2: Let's assume the first number is x. Since the second number is 9 more than the first number, we can add 9 to x to find the value of the second number. So, the second number is x + 9.

Step 3: Now, we know that the sum of these two numbers is 15. So, we can write an equation to represent that: x + (x + 9) = 15.

Step 4: Simplify the equation. Combine like terms on the left side. So, x + x + 9 = 15 becomes 2x + 9 = 15.

Step 5: To isolate the variable x, we need to get rid of the 9 on the left side of the equation. We can do this by subtracting 9 from both sides: 2x + 9 - 9 = 15 - 9, which simplifies to 2x = 6.

Step 6: Now, we can solve for x by dividing both sides of the equation by 2: 2x/2 = 6/2, which gives us x = 3.

Step 7: We have found the first number, which is 3. To find the second number, we add 9 to it: 3 + 9 = 12.

So, the two numbers that add up to 15 are 3 and 12.