The sum of two consecutive integers is 13

Question

The sum of two consecutive integers is13

 

Answer 1

Tekeisha, 

 

You might be able to reason out that the two consecutive numbers are 6 and 7 from your understanding of the addition facts.  Your teacher is probably challenging you to learn how to write an equation that means the same thing as the "mathy-sounding" sentence (as my daughter likes to call it), but gives you something to solve.

 

Consecutive integers go up by 1, right?  So if we don't know which integer to start with we'll just call it "x" and the next one after that has to be "x+1."

 

Let's take both those mystery numbers and add them together: x + (x+1) or x + x + 1 then make them equal 13.

 

x+x+1=13

 

If you're not sure what to do next in order to solve for x and use that to answer the question, let me know and I'll explain that in more detail.  : )

Answer 2

Take 13 and divide it in half.  The result is 6.5.  6.5 is not an integer so you have to find the two closest integers above and below 6.5.  Those numbers are 6 and 7 and their sum is 13.