9, 10 and 11 consecutive integers?

What is the smallest number that can be written as the sum of 9, 10 and 11 consecutive positive integers?


The answer is 495.

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1 solution

Mihir Chaturvedi
Mar 1, 2017

Let k k be our required number.

Since k k is a sum of 9 consecutive positive integers, it can be written as:

k = x + ( x + 1 ) + ( x + 2 ) + + ( x + 8 ) = 9 x + 36 k = x+(x+1)+(x+2)+\ldots+(x+8) = 9x + 36

Similarly, as k k is also a sum of 10 consecutive positive integers, it can be written as:

k = y + ( y + 1 ) + ( y + 2 ) + + ( y + 9 ) = 10 y + 45 k = y + (y+1) + (y+2) + \ldots + (y+9) = 10y + 45

And as a sum of 11 consecutive positive integers:

k = z + ( z + 1 ) + ( z + 2 ) + + ( z + 10 ) = 11 z + 55 k = z + (z+1) + (z+2) + \ldots + (z+10) = 11z + 55

Thus we get:

k = 9 x + 36 = 9 ( x + 4 ) k=9x+36=9(x+4)

k = 10 y + 45 = 5 ( 2 y + 9 ) k=10y+45=5(2y+9)

k = 11 z + 55 = 11 ( z + 5 ) k=11z+55=11(z+5)

We see that k k has factors 9 , 5 , 11 9, 5, 11 . Thus the smallest number that satisfies the condition to be k k must be the smallest number that has all factors 9 , 5 , 11 9, 5, 11 which is l c m ( 9 , 5 , 11 ) = 495 lcm(9, 5, 11)=\boxed{495}

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