Solving Alegebra

Question

The sum of three positive integers is 9 and their product is 24.  If the smallest of the integers is 2, what is the largest?

Answer 1

Hi Kyra,

 

There is an algebraic way to solve this problem, but trial and error might be the best way!

 

If the sum of the three positive integers is 9 and the smallest is 2, then the sum of the other two numbers is 7.

If the product of the three integers is 24 and the smallest is 2, then the product of the other two numbers is 12.

 

So, we two numbers whose sum is 7 and whose product is 12 -->  3 and 4!!

 

The largest number is 4.

 

Hope this helps.  :)