How do you find three consecutive odd integers whose sum is 5?

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Answer 1 · 2016-01-30T18:52:24

There are no such integers.

Three consecutive odd integers will be expressible as #n#, #n+2# and #n+4# where the least of the three integers is #n#.

This has sum #n+(n+2)+(n+4) = 3n+6 = 3(n+2)# which is divisible by #3#.

The number #5# is not divisible by #3# so cannot be expressed as such a sum.