# Question #8c23e

##### 1 Answer
Nov 21, 2017

$- 6 , - 7$

#### Explanation:

You could solve this just by random guessing and checking, but here's another way of going about it that is both concrete and significantly quicker (and will guarantee you good points on your test).

Let's call one of your numbers $x$. Since we are dealing with consecutive numbers, we can say the next consecutive number will be $x + 1$ (i.e. it would be the number that directly supersedes whatever $x$ is).

So, if these two must sum to equal $- 13$:

$x + \left(x + 1\right) = - 13$

And as you can see, it all boils down to what is a trivially simple equation to solve:

$2 x + 1 = - 13$
$\implies x = - 7$

Now, to find the other number, we just add 1:

$- 7 + 1 = - 6$

So your two numbers are $- 6$ and $- 7$

Note that you could have also chosen $x - 1$ as your other consecutive number (i.e. the number that directly precedes $x$). If you did this, the process would be the same; you'd just get $- 6$ first, and then subtract $1$ to get $- 7$.

Hope that helped :)