The sum of two consecutive odd integers is -112. What is the larger integer?
Two consecutive odd integers are numbers in order such as 3 and 5 or -31 and -29, that are each 2 numbers apart. In this problem you are searching for 2 consecutive odd integers. Let x = the ?rst and smallest consecutive odd integer. Let x + 2 = the second (and larger) consecutive negative odd integer. Sum is a key word for addition so the equation becomes (x)+ (x + 2) = -112. Combine such as terms on the left side of the equation: 2x + 2 = -112. Subtract 2 from both sides of the equation: 2x + 2 - 2 = -112 - 2; simplify: 2x = -114. Divide each side of the equation 2x = -114/2 by 2: 114/2 = 2/2. The variable is now alone: x = -57. Thus the larger value is: x + 2 = -55.