Andrew is 6 years older than phil. the sum of their age is 14. what are their ages?

This is translation. We're going to represent Andrew as 'A' and Phil as 'P'.

A=6+P (key word: "is" means equal)

A+P=14

Now we substitute A in the equation as:

(6+P)+P=14

6+2P=14 ***added like terms***
-6 -6

2P=8
---
2 2

P=4

We just find out that Phil is 4 years old...BUT WHAT ABOUT ANDREW!!??? We are simply just going to substitute Phil's age into one of the equations as so:

A+P=14

A+4=14
-4 -4

A=10

Andrew is 10 years old and Phil is 4 years old! Have a blessed day!