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Find two numbers whose difference is 164 and whose product is a minimum.

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Answer: The lowest possible product would be -6724 given the numbers 82 and -82.

We can find this by setting the first number as x + 164. The other number would have to be simply x since it has to have a 164 difference.

Next we'll multiply the numbers together.

x(x+164)

x^2 + 164x

Now we want to minimize this as much as possible, so we'll find the vertex of this quadratic graph. You can do this by finding the x value as -b/2a, where b is the number attached to x and a is the number attached to x^2

-b/2a = -164/2(1) = -164/2 = -82

So we know one of the values is -82. We can plug that into the equation to find the second.

x + 164

-82 + 164

82

Step-by-step explanation: Hope this helps.

User Kar
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