Question

The sum of three consecutive even numbers is 72. What is the smallest of the three numbers?

Answer 1

2k + 2(k+1) + 2(k+2) =  72

then dividing by 2 in both sides we have

3k +3 = 36

dividing by 3 both sides

k+1 = 12

then we have k = 11

then, the numbers in the sequence are, 22, 24, 26, the smallest of the three numbers is 22.