\(56\)  and \(16\)

\begin{align}
&\text { Let } x \text { be the larger number and } y \text { the smaller. } \\
&\qquad \begin{aligned}
x+y &=72\cdots (1)\\
x-y &=40\cdots (2) \\
(1)+(2)\qquad  2x&=112 \rightarrow x=56 \\
\end{aligned}\\
& \text{In } (1)\quad  56+y=72 \rightarrow y=16
\end{align}