## Video Series: How to Solve Consecutive Number Problems

PH Civil Service Review partners with the Sipnayan Youtube Channel in order to teach the basic concepts of mathematics easily. These tutorials are explained in mixed Tagalog and English, so viewers would be able to understand more. Below is one of the video series in the Sipnayan Youtube channel: a series of tutorials on how to solve consecutive number problems.

Part 1

The first video shown below discusses the definition of consecutive numbers. It also explains the difference of consecutive numbers, consecutive even numbers, and consecutive odd numbers. It discusses how to represent consecutive numbers algebraically and gives two sample problems.

Part 2 (click here to watch video), discusses in details two more examples. The first is four consecutive numbers with a sum of 70 and the third one is 3 consecutive numbers with a sum of 51.

Part 3 (click here to watch video) discusses two consecutive number problems describing their terms.

Aside from these videos, PH Civil Service Review has also a tutorial series on “The Solving Consecutive Number Problems Series” which discusses more examples in details. You can also subscribe to the Sipnayan Youtube Channel to be updated to the latest videos.

## How to Solve Consecutive Number Problems Part 2

In the previous post, we have discussed the basics of consecutive number problems. We have learned that in word problems in Algebra, consecutive numbers usually mean numbers increasing  by 1. Consecutive even numbers and consecutive odd numbers increase by 2. So, consecutive numbers whose smallest is x are x, x + 1 and x + 2 and so on, while consecutive odd/even numbers whose smallest number is y are y, y + 2, y + 4 and so on.

In this post, we begin with the third example in the series since we already had 2 examples in the previous post.

Example 3

The sum of four consecutive numbers is 70. What are the numbers?

Solution

Let

$x$ = first number

$x + 1$ = second number

$x + 2$ = third number

$x + 3$ = fourth number

Since we are talking about the sum of the four numbers, we add them. That is,

sum of four numbers = 70

$x + (x + 1) + (x + 2) + (x + 3) = 70$

Simplifying, we have

$4x + 6 = 70$

$4x = 70 - 6$

$4x = 64$

$4x/4 =64/4$

$x = 16$.

So, the smallest number is 16. Therefore, the four consecutive numbers are 16, 17, 18, and 19.

Check: $16 + 17 + 18 + 19 = 70$

Example 4

The sum of 3 consecutive odd numbers is equal to 51. What are the numbers?

Solution

As we have discussed above, odd numbers increase by 2 each time (like 5, 7, 9, 11), so we let

$x$ = first number

$x + 2$ = second number

$x + 4$ = third number

Now, we add the numbers and equate to 51.

$x + (x + 2) + (x + 4) = 51$

$3x + 6 = 51$

$3x = 51 - 6$

$3x = 45$

$3x/3 = 45/3$

$x = 15$

So the smallest odd number is 15. Therefore, the three consecutive odd numbers are 15, 17, and 19.

Check: $15 + 17 + 19 = 51$

You can also view the video tutorial of the discussion above in this video. The language is in Taglish.

In the next post, we will be discussing more problems about consecutive numbers.

## How to Solve Number Word Problems Part 3

This is the third part of The Number Word Problem Series. In this post, we will be solving number word problems about consecutive numbers.  In number word problem solving, consecutive numbers are numbers that follow each other in order.  Here are the examples of consecutive numbers (integers).

consecutive numbers: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, …

consecutive odd numbers: -2, 0, 2, 4, …

consecutive odd numbers: 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, …

I am quite sure that you have solved consecutive numbers in your high school mathematics class.

In the previous post, we finished our 6th problem, so, we start with the seventh problem. » Read more