The sum of three consecutive even numbers is 966. What is the smallest of these numbers?

Let’s denote by x the second number from the given sequence of three consecutive even numbers.

Then the first number from this sequence will be less than the second number by 2 and will be x – 2, and the third number from this sequence will be more than the second number by 2 and will be x + 2.

From the condition of the problem it is known that the sum of these three numbers is equal to 966, therefore, we can draw up the following equation:

x – 2 + x + x + 2 = 966

We solve the resulting equation:

3x = 966;

x = 966/3;

x = 322.

Find the first, smallest number:

x – 2 = 322 – 2 = 320.

Answer: The smallest of these numbers is 320.



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