Question

The product of two consecutive integers is 72.

Which of the following could be their sum?
E. -17
F. -1
G. 1
H. 18

Answer 1

First I would find the square root of 72 with a calculator, which happens to be 8.49 (rounded to the nearest hundreth)

So we know that the two integers will be close to 8.48

Since they are consecutive, lets first test out 8 and 9

We multiply these two and get 72, which is the number we were looking for.

now we find their sum.

9 + 8 = 17

Now since this is not part of the answers, we now asume that both 9 and 8 are negative numbers, since negative times a negative is a positive, but a negative plus a negative can still be negative.

-9 + -8 = -9 - 8 = -17!

So, the answer you are looking for is E: -17