Thesumofthereciprocalsofthreeconsecutiveintegersis47/60.Whatisthesumofthethreeintegers?
The sum of the reciprocals of three consecutive integers is 47/60. What is the sum of the three integers?
This must be of the form a/60 + b/60 + c/60 = 47/60
But since it must also be of the form 1/p + 1/q + 1/r = 47/60 then a, b and c must be factors of 60 (so that each term on the LHS cancels to leave a 1 in the numerator).
factor(60)=22×3×5
Clearly the 3 consecutive numbers are 3, 4 and 5, so their sum is 12.
Check
13+14+15=4760=0.7833333333333333
.
This must be of the form a/60 + b/60 + c/60 = 47/60
But since it must also be of the form 1/p + 1/q + 1/r = 47/60 then a, b and c must be factors of 60 (so that each term on the LHS cancels to leave a 1 in the numerator).
factor(60)=22×3×5
Clearly the 3 consecutive numbers are 3, 4 and 5, so their sum is 12.
Check
13+14+15=4760=0.7833333333333333
.