We can set up this problem as a system of linear equations.
Let's represent x as the number of CD's Michael has and y as the
number of CD's John has.
From the problem, this yields 2 equations:
y = 15 + x (John has 15 more CD's than Michael) and
x + y = 55 (Together they have a total of 55 CD's)
we can rewrite the first equations as x - y = -15 and from here
we can use eliminations to reduce the system to one variable
(x - y = -15) + (x + y = 55) = (2x = 40)
40/2 = 20, so Michael has 20 CD's