Given positive integers x and y such that x not = to y and 1/x + 1/y = 1/12, what is the smallest possible positive value for x + y?
\(\frac{1}{x} + \frac{1}{y} = \frac{1}{12}\)
This is equivalent to
\(xy - 12x -12y = 0\)
Add 144 to both sides to get
\((x-12)(y-12) = 144\)
It's not hard to check all of the ways to split 144 into a product of two integers. The best we can do without allowing \(x=y\) is
\((x-12)(y-12) = 144 = 9 \times 16\)
So \(x = 28\) and \(y = 21.\)
\(\frac{1}{x} + \frac{1}{y} = \frac{1}{12}\)
This is equivalent to
\(xy - 12x -12y = 0\)
Add 144 to both sides to get
\((x-12)(y-12) = 144\)
It's not hard to check all of the ways to split 144 into a product of two integers. The best we can do without allowing \(x=y\) is
\((x-12)(y-12) = 144 = 9 \times 16\)
So \(x = 28\) and \(y = 21.\)
