SOLUTION: Three brothers have ages that are consecutive integers. the product of the first and third boys ages is 14 more than twice the second boys age. write an equation that represents th

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Question 1141314: Three brothers have ages that are consecutive integers. the product of the first and third boys ages is 14 more than twice the second boys age. write an equation that represents the situation and find the age of each of the three boys
Answer by greenestamps(13200) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!


Let x be the age of the middle brother. Then the ages of the others are x-1 and x+1. Then the given information says

%28x-1%29%28x%2B1%29+=+2x%2B14

Note that an equally good method would be to let the three ages be x, x+1, and x+2. That would make the equation

x%28x%2B2%29+=+2%28x%2B1%29%2B14

I usually use x-1, x, and x+1 because it often makes the resulting algebra easier.