SOLUTION: The difference between two whole numbers is 8 and the difference between their reciprocals is 1/6. Find the two numbers.

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Question 60964This question is from textbook Algebra for College Students
: The difference between two whole numbers is 8 and the difference between their reciprocals is 1/6. Find the two numbers. This question is from textbook Algebra for College Students

Answer by hayek(51)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The difference between two whole numbers is 8 ==> Eq. 1:
The difference between their reciprocals is 1/6 ==> Eq. 2:
Eq.1==>
plug into Eq. 2:



Solved by pluggable solver: SOLVE quadratic equation with variable
Quadratic equation (in our case ) has the following solutons:



For these solutions to exist, the discriminant should not be a negative number.

First, we need to compute the discriminant : .

The discriminant -128 is less than zero. That means that there are no solutions among real numbers.

If you are a student of advanced school algebra and are aware about imaginary numbers, read on.


In the field of imaginary numbers, the square root of -128 is + or - .

The solution is

Here's your graph:
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