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?

Start with the given equation, x(x + 1) = 72. Expand the left side to get x² + x = 72, then subtract 72 from both sides: x² + x − 72 = 0. This is choice A, x² + x − 72 = 0.

AI-written and checked against the verified answer.