The sum of the reciprocals of two consecutive odd integers is 24/143. find the two integers.
Accepted Solution
A:
let one integer be x, the consecutive odd integer is x+2 reciprocals are 1/x and 1/(x+2) 1/x +1/(x+2)=24/143 make the denominators the same: (x+2)/[x(x+2)] +x/[x(x+2)]=24/143 143(2x+2)=24(x)(x+2) 286x+286=24x²+48x 24x²-238x-286=0 use the quadratic formula: x=22 this doesn't work because 22 is not an odd number. or x=-2.1666666666 (this is not an integer)