Question

Given that x is an even number, express, in terms of x, the product of the next two odd numbers.

Answer 1

Odd is the answer.

Explanation:

An even number can be written in the form 2x, where x is an integer.

An odd number can be written in the form 2x + 1, where x is an integer.

So two odd numbers can be represented by 2a +1 and 2b +1, the product would be:

(2a + 1)(2b +1) = 4ab + 2a + 2b + 1 = which can be written as 2(2ab + a +b) + 1, but 2ab +a + b represents some integer, so 2ab + a + b = x.

So (2a + 1)(2b + 1) = 2(2ab + a + b ) + 1 = 2x +1 which is odd.