asked 62.8k views
3 votes
Two negative integers are five minutes apart on the number line, and their product is 126. What is the sum of the two integers?

asked
User Bassebus
by
8.4k points

1 Answer

3 votes
First I will assume that this problem can be reworded as follows: "Two negative integers are five units apart on the number line."

Let the first (the smaller) negative integer be x and the second y. Note that y, being bigger than x, can be represented by y=x+5.

First find the 2 integers. Their product is 126, so x(x+5)=126.
Expanding, x^2 + 5x - 126 = 0. Using the quadratic formula to solve this,

-5 plus or minus sqrt(529) -5 plus or minus 23
x = --------------------------------------- = -----------------------------
2 2
-5 -23
We are interested only in negative integers, so take x = ------------
2

Then x = -28/2, or x = -14. Then y is x+5, or -14+5 = -9.

Check: does the product of -9 and -14 equal 126, as it must? YES.
answered
User Joe Yan
by
7.1k points

No related questions found

Welcome to Qamnty — a place to ask, share, and grow together. Join our community and get real answers from real people.