The product of the two numbers is 170, and their sum is 27. What are the two numbers?

asked by guest
on Oct 18, 2024 at 1:18 pm



MathBot Answer:

The numbers are \(10\) and \(17\).


The sum of the numbers is \(27\), and their product is \(170\). This translates to the two equations: \[\begin{aligned}n_{1} + n_{2} &= 27\\n_{1} n_{2} &= 170\\\end{aligned}\] Solving the first equation for \(n_{2}\) in terms of \(n_{1}\) produces the formula \(n_{2} = 27 - n_{1}\).
Substituting \(27 - n_{1}\) for \(n_{2}\) in the second equation produces a quadratic equation that can be solved by the quadratic formula:\[\begin{gather*}n_{1} \cdot \left( 27 - n_{1} \right) = 170\\n_{1}^{2} - 27 n_{1} + 170 = 0\end{gather*}\] The solutions to the quadratic equation are \(n_{1} = 10\) and \(n_{1} = 17\).
Substituting \(n_{1} = 10\) into \(n_{1} + n_{2} = 27\), and solving for \(n_{2}\) yields \(n_{2} = 17\). Similarly, \(n_{1} = 17\) implies \(n_{2} = 10\).