The sum of four consecutive integers is -42. What are the integers?

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Answer 1 · 2016-10-06T09:08:38

The integers are $-12, -11, -10, -9$

Recall: Consecutive numbers follow each other and are separated by 1 each time, [Like 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 ...]

Let the four integers be $x, x+1, x+2, x+3$

Their sum is -42. Form an equation to show this.

$x+x+1+x+2+x+3 = -42" "larr$ now simplify

$4x+6 = -42" "larr$ now solve the eqution

$4x = -42-6$

$4x = -48$

$x = -48/4$

$x =-12" "larr$ this is the smallest of the integers,

The integers are $-12, -11, -10, -9$