The product of two consecutive integers is 72. The equation x(x + 1) = 72 represents the situation, where x represents the smaller integer. Which equation can be factored and solved for the smaller integer?
x2 + x – 72 = 0
x2 + x + 72 = 0
x2 + 2x – 72 = 0
x2 + 2x + 72 = 0
x(x + 1) = 72 Expanding the brackets, we get: [tex]x^{2}+x=72[/tex] Subtracting 72 from both sides, gives: [tex]x^{2}+x-72=0[/tex] This is the required equation to be factored and solved .
