The Square of a positive integer is equal to the sum of the integer and 12. Find the integer

Discussion in 'Calculator Requests' started by math_celebrity, Nov 5, 2018.

  1. math_celebrity

    math_celebrity Administrator Staff Member

    The Square of a positive integer is equal to the sum of the integer and 12. Find the integer

    Let the integer be x.
    • The sum of the integer and 12 is written as x + 12.
    • The square of a positive integer is written as x^2.

    We set these equal to each other:
    x^2 = x + 12

    Subtract x + 12 from each side:
    x^2 - x - 12 = 0

    We have a quadratic function. Run it through our search engine and we get x = 3 and x = -4.
    The problem asks for a positive integer, so we have x = 3
     

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