Since we don't know where to start, we can always give that a variable which in this case, it's X. Since we are finding the sum of three consecutive odd numbers, we will be skipping numbers so we can add 2 each time. Now, let's set up an equation.
<h2>X + X + 2 + X + 4 = 159</h2><h2 /><h2>3x + 6 = 159</h2><h2> -6 -6 ← subtract 6 on both sides</h2><h2 /><h2> 3x = 153</h2><h2> ÷3 ÷3 ← divide both sides by 3</h2><h2 /><h2> X = 51</h2><h2> X + 2 = 53</h2><h2> X + 4 = 55</h2><h2 />
Therefore, the smallest of our three consecutive integers is 51.
