SOLUTION: If the sum of three numbers in A.P. is 24 and their product is 440, find the numbers

From the condition, the middle term of the three is one third of 24, i.e. 8.


Then the product of the first and the third is  = 55.


You can write it in the form


    (8-d)*(8+d) = 55,


where d is the common difference.


From the last equation,  d^2 = 64 - 55 = 9;  hence,  d = +/- 3.


It gives you two progressions

    5, 8, 11     and   11, 8, 5.


The second progression is the reversed first, and vice versa.