Question 1167154: The product of two consecutive whole numbers is 272. What are those numbers?
Answer by Theo(13342)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! the numbers are 16 and 17 if they're positive.
they are -17, -16 if they are negative.
16*17 = 272
-17*-16 = 272
let x = the first number.
then x + 1 = the second number.
the product equation is:
x * (x + 1) = 272
simplify and subtract 272 from both sides of the equation to get:
x^2 + x - 272 = 0
factor to get:
(x + 17) * (x - 16) = 0
solve for x to get:
x = -17 or x = 16
if x = 16, the two consecutive numbers are 16 and 17.
if x = -17, the two consecutive number are -17 and -16.
the product of each pair of consecutive numbers give you 272.
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