New to site - need homework help

[christopher m]

Hi - can someone help me with this problem? I am really stuck and I need to see the explanation of how it needs to be done.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Three times the greatest of three consecutive even integers exceeds twice the least by 38. What are the integers?

I don't even know where to begin. Please help!!
Thanks.

 

[rbcc]

Hi

you should start by naming things let x,y,z represent the three consecutive integers

Three times the greatest of three consecutive even integers exceeds twice the least by 38. What are the integers

Three times the greatest of three consecutive even integers exceeds twice the least by 38

1) 3z-2x=38
there all even numbers right? so

2) x+2=y
3) y+2=z

because if x were 2 , for example, then the next even number would be 4 so 2+2=4

ok so now we have our 3 equations then we can start subbing in

sub 3 into 1 3(y+2)-2x=38
simplify 3y+6-2x=38
sub 2 into 1 3(x+2)+6-2x=38
simplify 3x+6+6-2x=38
x+12=38
x= 26

then
26+2=28=y
and

28+2=30=z