Final answer:
The pair of numbers with the least product possible, where one number is 9 less than the second number, is -9 and 0. This is found through reasoning rather than complex calculations.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find a pair of numbers where one number is 9 less than a second number and that has the least product possible, we can set up an equation where x represents the second number and x - 9 represents the first number. We are looking to minimize the product of these two numbers, which is x(x - 9). This can be visualized as a parabola opening upwards. The vertex of this parabola provides the minimum product. Differentiating and finding the roots may be beyond the middle school level, so instead, we can reason that since a negative number multiplied by a smaller negative number gives a positive product, and a positive number multiplied by a smaller positive number gives a positive product, the smallest product occurs when one number is just slightly less than 0 (but still negative), and the other is thus slightly less than -9 (but still negative). Therefore, the numbers that would give the least product possible would be -9 and 0.