Question

If two numbers whose difference is 8 and whose product is a minimum, what is the larger number?

Answer 1

I'm 99.99999% sure this is correct!

Explanation:

Answer: 4 and -4.

So our numbers can be assumed to be x and x+8.

Now there product is minimum you say. Then we have to minimize

y=x(x+8)=x^2+8x=(x+4)^2–16

For above expression minimum possible value is of course -16 which shows up when x+4 becomes 0.

so therefore, the two numbers we are talking about must be 4 and -4.