mine was not so parsimonious, my teachers would probably say i am not very clever but has points for effort.

ann_old=12

mary_curr=24

mary_old=ann_curr

mary_curr-ann_curr=X

mary_old-ann_old=X

24-ann_curr=X

mary_old-12=X

ann_curr-12=X

24-ann_curr=ann_curr-12

2ann_curr -12 = 24

2ann_curr = 36

ann_curr = 18

For me they key step to solving it was realizing that

mary_curr - mary_old = ann_curr - ann_old

since they must have aged the same amount of years.

time dilation joke incoming