The product of two consecutive positive integers is 1,332. Explain how you can write and solve a quadratic equation to find the value of the larger integer.

Answer:

The numbers can be written as x and x 1. Set the product of the numbers equal to 1,332 to get x(x 1) 1,332. You can solve the quadratic equation by using the quadratic formula, completing the square, or factoring. When you solve the quadratic equation, you find that x 37 and 36. Since the question asked for positive integers, the only viable solution is x 36. To solve for the larger integer, you add 1 to 36 to get an answer of 37.