consectuive integers whose sum is 261

Question

three good friends are in the same algebra class. their scores on a recent test are three consecutive integers whose sum is 261 find each score?

Answer 1

Let "x" be the first integer. That means the next integer would be "x + 1", and the integer after that would be "x + 2". Since their sum is 261 then:

(x) + (x + 1) + (x + 2) = 261

or

3x + 3 = 261

Can you solve this for "x" to find that first integer?

Answer 2

x + (x+1) + (x+2) = 261

Solve this linear equation:

3x = 258

x = 86

So the numbers are 86, 87 and 88