document.write( "Question 1167154: The product of two consecutive whole numbers is 272. What are those numbers?
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Algebra.Com's Answer #791742 by Theo(13342)\"\" \"About 
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the numbers are 16 and 17 if they're positive.\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "they are -17, -16 if they are negative.\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "16*17 = 272\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "-17*-16 = 272\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "let x = the first number.
\n" ); document.write( "then x + 1 = the second number.\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "the product equation is:\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "x * (x + 1) = 272\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "simplify and subtract 272 from both sides of the equation to get:\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "x^2 + x - 272 = 0\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "factor to get:\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "(x + 17) * (x - 16) = 0\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "solve for x to get:\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "x = -17 or x = 16\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "if x = 16, the two consecutive numbers are 16 and 17.\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "if x = -17, the two consecutive number are -17 and -16.\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "the product of each pair of consecutive numbers give you 272.\r
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