SOLUTION: The sum of the reciprocals of two consecutive even integers is 5/12. Find the integers.

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Question 1114940: The sum of the reciprocals of two consecutive even integers is 5/12.
Find the integers.

Found 3 solutions by josgarithmetic, Alan3354, greenestamps:
Answer by josgarithmetic(39617)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!

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discriminant,
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The solution of the equation which is integer is n=4.
The integers for the question description are 4 and 6.

Answer by Alan3354(69443)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The sum of the reciprocals of two consecutive even integers is 5/12.
Find the integers.



Can you do the rest?

Answer by greenestamps(13200)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!


Knowing how to solve problems like this using formal algebra is of course valuable....

But logical analysis and a tiny bit of mental arithmetic finds the answer much more quickly.

The reciprocals of integers get very small very quickly. If the sum of the reciprocals of two integers is 5/12, the integers have to be very small.

Given that the two are consecutive even integers, the solution is found with little effort:
2 and 4? no...
4 and 6? yes!

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