Question

Two consecutive odd numbers total -20 find the smaller

Answer 1

-9

Explanation:

use an equation to solve this

consecutive means in succession, one after the other

since they're odd, both numbers have to be odd

let x be the first number

x+x+2=-20

+2 because if you only +1, one of the numbers would be even

2x+2=-20

-2. -2

2x=-22

x=-11

the smaller would be -9 since we are adding x and x+2 together