Question

The sum of five consecutive numbers is -20. Which is the least of these five numbers?

Answer 1

Consecutive numbers means 1,2,3 or 102,103,104 etc.

2,3,4,5,6 add to 20
So -2, -3, -4, -5, -6 add to -20

-6 is the least of the 5 consecutive numbers which sum to-20

Answer 2

Since the numbers are consecutive, they can be represented by:
x, x+1, x+2, x+3, x+4

Their sum is -20 = x+x+1+x+2+x+3+x+4. Result: -20=5x+10, or 5x=-30, or x = -6.

Then the numbers are -6, -5, -4, -3 and -2. These do add up to -20, as required.

The smallest of these is -6.