Question

The sum of two consecutive numbers is 73. What are the numbers?

Answer 1

`36,37`

Explanation:

Let's say our first number is `x`. Since these numbers are consecutive, that means the second one can be modeled by the equation `x+1`. Thus we have

`color(blue)(x)+color(lime)((x+1))=73`

where the blue term represents the first number and the green term represents the second term.

We can combine these to get

`2x+1=73`

Which can be simplified to

`2x=72`

`=>color(blue)(x=36)`

This represents the first number. The second one is given by `x+1`. We plug in for `x` to get the second number, `37`.

To check, `36+37` does indeed equal `73`.

Hope this helps!