Question

The sum of three consecutive odd numbers is 69. What are the three numbers?

Write the equation and find the numbers

Answer 1

21, 23, 25

Explanation:

Ok, so this one may seem a little tricky, so I'll try to explain it as best as I can. :)

So because they are consecutive odd numbers, that means they are odd numbers that are one after the other. This means each number is 2 apart from the next. So by using this, we know that there is a difference of 6 between the highest and lowest number. Now let's try and make an equation:

3o + 6 = 69

Now in order to get O by itself we have to subtract 6 from both sides:

3o = 63

Now we just have to divide by three on both sides:

o = 21

So now, we know that the lowest number is 21, but we have to add 2 to get 23, and then another 2 to get 25.

Hope this helps :)

Answer 2

21, 23, 25

Explanation:

First we can write the equation.

The difference between any two consecutive odd numbers is 2.

This allows us to set up an equation with only one variable, x.

This said, the equation would be

x+x+2+x+2+2=69

where x is the first odd number

x+2 is the next one

and x+2+2 is the last one.

Now we can combine the numbers of that equation, and combine the variables.

3x+6=69

subtract 6 from both sides.

3x=63

divide both sides by 3.

x=21

The first value is 21.

21+2=23

The second value is 23.

23+2=25

The last value is 25.

Check our work:

21+23+25=69