The sum of two consecutive even integers is 118. How do you find the integers?

1 Answer
Jul 30, 2016

58 + 60 = 11858+60=118

Explanation:

Even integers are always separated by 2. So if we have one even number, we can find the next by adding (or subtracting) two.

So, if xx is even, x+2x+2 is the next even number and x-2xโˆ’2 is the previous even number.

But how can we be sure that xx is even?

Any number multiplied by 2 is definitely even, so it is better to call the first even number, 2x2x.

Let the first even integer be 2x2x
The next even integer will be 2x +22x+2

Their sum is 118118

2x + 2x + 2 = 1182x+2x+2=118
4x = 1164x=116

2x = 58 " we did not need to solve for "x2x=58 we did not need to solve for x

The consecutive even integers are 58 and 6058and60

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We could also have just divided by 2 and then added 1 and subtracted 1.

118 div 2= 59118รท2=59

59 - 1 = 58 and 59 + 1 = 6059โˆ’1=58and59+1=60