How do you find three consecutive even integers such that three times the largest is 34 more than the sum of the two smaller integers?

1 Answer
Jul 4, 2017

See a solution process below:

Explanation:

Let's call the smallest of the three consecutive integers: nn

Because these are consecutive even integers it means we can write the other two integers as:

n + 2n+2

n + 4n+4

Now, we can write "three times the largest" as:

3(n + 4)3(n+4)

And if this is equal to "34 more than the sum of the two smaller integers" we can write this as the equation:

3(n + 4) = 34 + n + n + 23(n+4)=34+n+n+2

We can now solve for nn:

3(n + 4) = 34 + 1n + 1n + 23(n+4)=34+1n+1n+2

3(n + 4) = 1n + 1n + 2 + 343(n+4)=1n+1n+2+34

3(n + 4) = (1 + 1)n + 363(n+4)=(1+1)n+36

color(red)(3)(n + 4) = 2n + 363(n+4)=2n+36

(color(red)(3) * n) + (color(red)(3) * 4) = 2n + 36(3n)+(34)=2n+36

3n + 12 = 2n + 363n+12=2n+36

-color(blue)(2n) + 3n + 12 - color(red)(12) = -color(blue)(2n) + 2n + 36 - color(red)(12)2n+3n+1212=2n+2n+3612

(-color(blue)(2) + 3)n + 0 = 0 + 24(2+3)n+0=0+24

1n = 241n=24

n = 24n=24

Therefore the three consecutive even integers are:

n = 24n=24

n + 2 = 26n+2=26

n + 4 = 28n+4=28