Answer Within A Minute IV (Corrected)

Algebra Level 1

Evaluate the following expression:

12345678 9 2 ( 123456788 × 123456790 ) . 123456789^{2} - (123456788 \times 123456790).

If you use a calculator whose precision is not strong enough to answer this question, then you will answer this problem incorrectly.


The answer is 1.

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30 solutions

Wenn Chuaan Lim
Jul 6, 2014

Let 123456789 123456789 be x x
Therefore, the equation will be
x 2 ( x 1 ) ( x + 1 ) x^{2}-(x-1)(x+1)
= x 2 ( x 2 1 ) =x^{2}-(x^{2}-1)
= x 2 x 2 + 1 =x^{2}-x^{2}+1
= 1 =1


you only put squared to 9 quiet confusing ...

Noel Mondares - 5 years, 7 months ago

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What the hell does this mean

Simon Lowes - 1 year ago

oh yes..........great

Abhaya Vinayak - 5 years, 5 months ago

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I don't understand 😕

Oghenemine Ofejiro N. - 9 months ago

why calculator says 0???!!!

dip tanjimul - 5 years, 3 months ago

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cause the values are too high and the calculator cant handle it i guess

Batikan Iscan - 5 years, 2 months ago

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I got 1 on my calculator

Juice Guy - 12 months ago

because your calculator thought both of the numbers is infinite, infinite-infinite must be 0............

ok, that's just a guess

Zenobia Roy - 1 year, 10 months ago

cus the calculator cannot handle big numbers or your calculator is crazy, haha

JINJIE Zhang - 5 months, 3 weeks ago

All you have to is solve using variables ignore what's constant

Olamide Ogunlade - 5 years, 1 month ago

What is it that some People swear the answer 0 because some program Who uses an algorithm says so?!?

Peter van der Linden - 4 years, 10 months ago

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What do you mean?

Refath Bari - 4 years, 10 months ago

Absolutely correct sharp mind buddy

Rishu Goel - 5 years, 4 months ago

How in the holy fuck did i get 80, 009, 000, 001 😒😒

Andrew Lane - 5 years, 1 month ago

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Don't use slank languages in brilliant

Rathindra Neogi - 1 year, 8 months ago

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yes no bad words here

I Love Brilliant - 11 months ago

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@I Love Brilliant actually 001 is correct

I Love Brilliant - 11 months ago

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@I Love Brilliant Why are you pinging yourself dude?

SRIJAN Singh - 1 week, 4 days ago

I had -1, 0 and 1

Joash Ong - 5 months, 3 weeks ago

Wow,... beautiful solution!

Refath Bari - 4 years, 11 months ago

omg so smart

Charmi NAGAR [10R06M] - 4 years, 9 months ago

If people want to use a calculator,divide each number by 1,000,000 then, your calculator can handle it! Thanks for your excellent and very clear explanation Wenn.

Abraham Seggfej - 4 years, 5 months ago

how does (x^2 - 1) become x^2 + 1 ? I dont understand that step?

Leofric Wulfhere - 4 years, 4 months ago

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Subtracting x^2 + 1 is the same as subtracting x^2, and then subtracting 1 from what's left.

Whitney Clark - 4 years, 4 months ago

That's because of the negative.

Andreas Walexon - 5 months, 2 weeks ago

= x^2 - (x^2 - 1) = x^2 - x^2 - (-1) = x^2 - x^2 + 1

Terri Baker - 1 month, 1 week ago

Nice solution.

Ali Kwj - 3 years, 6 months ago

I have given the right answer just by figuring out the property just by experiments. :P I have tried 11^2-(10*12). and yeah thanks for the explanation.

Abhishek Kumar - 3 years, 4 months ago

Nice solution

K.Pushpa priya - 2 years, 5 months ago

why did I doubt my self I was on the right track...

O Normann Sæterlid - 2 years, 5 months ago

Agreed with Noel, should have used brackets to avoid confusion

Dave S - 2 years, 5 months ago

Well yeah it's a little weird because i got 1.52415789971041e+16‬

Judith Ortiz - 1 year, 2 months ago

where the +1 come from?

I use calculator and the result is 0

Nguyen Viet Cuong - 1 year ago

The problem was cut off on right side of the screen, but I was able to guess.

Andrew Westergaard - 6 months, 3 weeks ago

great solution!

Lasitha Jayasinghe - 10 hours ago

That right !

Dorae Mon - 5 years, 5 months ago

Oh yes...got it!!

Anwesha Sinha - 5 years ago

It has to be 0

Devyn Dimmick - 4 years, 10 months ago

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Why? Prove it.

Whitney Clark - 4 years, 9 months ago

If you take it as a whole you get zero

Devyn Dimmick - 4 years, 10 months ago

No it is absolutely 0.how is it 1?

Zeinu Ahmed Rabba - 5 years, 7 months ago

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I would be interested in seeing your math as to how you get zero.

Chris Cheek - 5 years, 7 months ago

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123456789 x 123456789 = 15241578750190500.00 123456788 x 123456790 = 15241578750190500.00 Using Microsoft Excel

The Answer is 0

Rick Casteel - 5 years ago

Zeinu.....look at these to see the pattern. 2^2-(3×1)=1 3^2-(4×2)=1 4^2-(5x3)=1 10^2-(11×9)=1 20^2-(21×19)=1

John Lyon - 5 years ago

My solution:

Let's consider this:

  • 123456789^2 = N^2 (N = 123456789)
  • Because the number 123456788 is one less than N, we denote it as (N - 1)
  • Similarly, we denote 123456790 as (N + 1), because it's more than N

From this, substitute in the notations above into the equation and we get:

N^2 - ((N-1) x (N+1))

N^2 - (N^2 + N - N - 1) or -(N^2 -1) And: N^2 - N^2 + 1 = 1

Hence: 123456789^2 - (123456788 x 123456790) = 1

Hope it helped! :)

Elias Adler - 5 years ago

Well it can't be 0. 9×9=81, 8×0=0, so the two numbers can't be the same

Jason Rennie - 5 years ago

123456789^2-(123456788 x 123456790) Subtract 123456789 from the two numbers in parenthesis but make sure to keep you ^2 basically distributive property. This gives you 1^2 x -1^2 Simplify, 1 power 2 is 1 and -1 power two is one because negative times negative is a positive. This makes 1 x 1 Which is equal to 1

Gunnar Gunderson - 5 years ago

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where is the second ^2 from? if you have -1 shouldn't that be the product of (123456788-123456789)*(123456790-123456789) already? and why are you multiplying 1^2 with -1^2? shouldn't there be a subtraction instead of a multiplication? What you have done is very confusing to me and I can't tell if you want the product in the parenthesis to become 1 or the difference between the two products to become 1.

Gustaf Carstam - 3 years, 3 months ago

And your proof is?....

Aly O'Mahoney - 5 years, 5 months ago

He forgot to put x^2+1 inside a parentheses The negative must be distributed to both x^2 and negative 1

Vince Pantino - 5 years, 7 months ago

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Why would the x^2+1 be inside a parentheses? He did distribute it that is why it is +1.

Chris Cheek - 5 years, 7 months ago

The negative was distributed to the x^2 and the -1, so it became -x^2 and +1 -- not subtracting x^2 + 1.

Whitney Clark - 5 years, 4 months ago

It is supposed to be zero, I used my calculator and inputted the same exact equation and received 0 as my answer.

Michael Boyd - 5 years, 7 months ago

It is 0 123456789^2 -(123456788*123456790) 152415787501905-152415787501905=0

Kayla Medeiros - 5 years, 6 months ago

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You've made a mistake, two even numbers ( 123456788 123456788 and 123456790 123456790 in this case) multiply together to make an even number.

As you can probably tell; 152415787501905 152415787501905 is not an even number hence the answer of 0 0 is incorrect.

Jack Rawlin - 5 years, 5 months ago

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The mistake was that the calculator may not have enough digits in the display to display the whole number. Just an assumption though

Chris Hildebrand - 5 years, 5 months ago

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@Chris Hildebrand The mistake was using a calculator.

Chris Cheek - 5 years, 2 months ago

That is why it was said in the first place that if your calculator is not precise enough you will get a wrong answer

Zahid Hussain - 2 years ago

Well done Jack! That is the most logical explanation for the answer being 'wrong'

Zahid Hussain - 2 years ago

It's 0. Your method is wrong.

jahir uddin komol - 5 years, 6 months ago

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Can you explain why his method is wrong? As far as I and 28,488 other people can tell (at the time of posting), his algebra is 100 100 % correct.

I do see where you get 0 0 from, I myself (after solving it) inputted the question into my calculator and got the answer 0 0 .

However the calculator isn't 100 100 % accurate, it likes to round particularly large numbers down so it doesn't end up filling the screen with them. 1234568 9 2 12345689^2 is one of those numbers, so anything close to it (like 123456788 123456790 123456788 \cdot 123456790 ) will also be rounded down making it so that a small difference will go unnoticed by the user. To work it out properly you need to use algebra.

Instead of using x x we'll stick with the original question with a slight modification. Just as a note, the dot between the brackets represents a multiplication sign (I like using it).

12345678 9 2 ( ( 123456789 1 ) ( 123456789 + 1 ) ) 123456789^2 - ((123456789 - 1) \cdot (123456789 + 1))

It's the exact same question only we replaced the numbers in the brackets with what they are in comparison to 123456789 123456789 . Now let's expand those inner brackets.

12345678 9 2 ( 123456789 ( 123456789 + 1 ) 1 ( 123456789 + 1 ) ) 123456789^2 - (123456789 \cdot (123456789 + 1) - 1 \cdot (123456789 + 1))

12345678 9 2 ( 12345678 9 2 + 123456789 123456789 1 ) 123456789^2 - (123456789^2 + 123456789 - 123456789 - 1)

12345678 9 2 12345678 9 2 123456789 + 123456789 + 1 123456789^2 - 123456789^2 - 123456789 + 123456789 + 1

As you can see the 12345678 9 2 123456789^2 , 12345678 9 2 -123456789^2 , 123456789 123456789 and 123456789 -123456789 all cancel out leaving you with 1 1 .

That's the answer, hopefully I've made it a little bit clearer to you as to why it's not equal to 0 0 .

Jack Rawlin - 5 years, 5 months ago

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I used Excel and it did not round the numbers. The answer is 0

Rick Casteel - 5 years ago

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@Rick Casteel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numeric precision in Microsoft Excel

Yeah, it did. "...its precision for a specified number is confined to 15 significant figures...". As per Tim's calculation, 123456789^2 comes out to a 17 figure value, so Excel rounds off the end.

Dan Hewitt - 4 years, 8 months ago

@Rick Casteel The answer is definitely 1, if you use Python for example, or another tool that can handle numbers this large, 123456789*123456789 == 15241578750190521, and 123456788*123456790 == 15241578750190520, thus the answer is 1.

Tim Anderegg - 5 years ago
Shivam Kumar
Oct 30, 2015

why can't like this!

= 123456789^2 - (123456788 x 123456790)

= 123456789^2 - (123456789 - 1) (123456789 + 1)

= 123456789^2 - (123456789^2 - 1)

= 123456789^2 -123456789^2 + 1

= 1

here you go, it's one:)

To me explanation is the best and clearest. Thanks again.

Carl Richardson - 5 years, 2 months ago

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Agreed, really liked Shivam Kumar's proof, thanks for the contribution.

jamieson ng - 5 years, 2 months ago

Nice one! It's the best solution!

Maygrens Macatangay - 4 years, 7 months ago

123456789^2-(123456788×(123456789+1))=123456789^2-123456788×123456789-123456788=123456789-123456788=1

Nam nguyen trong - 2 years, 9 months ago

Nice think

Emmanuel Francis - 1 year, 1 month ago

Thank you, your explanation did help

Leonardo Noli - 3 weeks, 1 day ago

123456789^2 -123456789^2 + 1 = 1 ,great...

Sharmin Akter - 1 week, 6 days ago
Ayran Michelin
Jun 28, 2015

Let 123456789 be a basic number between other two, doesnt matter wich number you choose, it's a math property

So we have:

3 X 3 - ( 2 X 4) = 9 - 8 = 1

4 X 4 - (3 X 5) = 16 - 15 = 1

5 X 5 - (4 X 6) = 25 - 24 = 1

And so on...

This is right

Herald Samala - 4 years, 7 months ago

Right on Man!

Abraham Seggfej - 4 years, 5 months ago

Not too helpful...

Arunanshu Biswas - 4 years ago

89^2= 7921

88 x 90 = 7920

7921 - 7920= 1

Abdul Hafiz Azizi - 2 years, 6 months ago
Shaan Ragib
Dec 23, 2016

Ignoring most of the numbers above, we can try this expression: ( 89 * 89 ) - ( 88 * 90 ) = ? [ 88 * 90 =7920 , 89 * 89 =7921 ] therefore the answer is 1 in this case. so no matter how big the number is, if the other digits are same then they can be ignored and the smaller numbers that are there can be used to get the answer easily

Maher Farag
Dec 26, 2015

let 123456789 = x , then 123456788 = x-1 & 123456790 = x+1 x^2 - ( x - 1 )( x + 1 ) = x^2 - ( x^2 - x + x - 1 ) = 1

(Excuse for my english) Thanks Maher, you are the first that resolve good this multiplication: (X-1)*(x+1)=x2+x-x-1 Therefore: X2-x2-x+x+1=1

Nom Cognom - 2 years, 4 months ago
DeWayne Ross
Dec 21, 2015

123456789 × 123456789 = 15241578750190500 123456788 × 123456790 = 15241578750190500 15241578750190500 - 15241578750190500=0

Except that it doesn't. The square of any number ending in 9 must have its last digit as 1. The problem is the lack of calculator precision.

Mark Rose - 5 years, 5 months ago

Let x=123456788 X^2 +1-(x(x+2))=y Answer Y=1

Mr sameth - 2 years ago

It's pretty simple if you write it as a difference of squares formula.
(Difference of squares => A^2-B^2=(A+B)(A-B)
123456789 = a
a^2 - (a-1)*(a+1)
=a^2 - (a^2 - 1^2)
=a^2-a^2+1
=1





Sadasiva Panicker
Oct 30, 2015

p2 - (p - 1)(p + 1) = p2 - p2 + 1 = 1, Therefore 123456789^2 - (123456789+1)(123456789 +1) = 123456789^2 - 123456789^2 + 1 = 1

Kien Santana
Sep 5, 2015

Put the 123456787 in evidence 123456789 = 123456787 + 2 Rest 2 123456788 = 123456787 + 1 Rest 1 1234567890 = 123456787 + 3 Rest 3

2² - ( 1 * 3 ) 4 - ( 3 ) 4 - 3 = 1

OBS:. If you put 123456788 in evidence, the 123456789 will be "1²" and when use ( - ) = "NEGATIVE ANSWER"

Leonard Zuniga
Jul 14, 2014

(A+D)(A-D) = A^{2} - D^{2}
Adding D^{2} and subtracting (A+D)(A-D) to both sides, we get:
A^{2} - (A+d)(A-d)=D^{2}
123456789^{2} - (123456789+1)(123456789-1) = 1^{2}
We get:
123456789^{2} - (123456790)(123456788) = 1


It just equals 0 try a calculator.

Juan Castro - 5 years, 11 months ago

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Long Answer : Because the numbers are so large, most calculators can't cope accurately multiplying them together (or squaring them) without loosing accuracy. Once you have lost the accuracy, you can't get it back so the results get more and more inaccurate - for most problems though it doesn't matter as the rounding errors are small compared to the final answer - in this case though the rounding error is large compared to the final answer. Short Answer : Calculators aren't always right !

Tony Flury - 5 years, 9 months ago

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Lol, and they make you lazy.

Chris Cheek - 5 years, 7 months ago
Leigh Thompson
Mar 6, 2017

12345678 9 2 ( 123456788 × 1234567890 ) 123456789^{2}-(123456788\times 1234567890)

Each number in parentheses differs by 1 from 123456789

= 12345678 9 2 ( ( 123456789 1 ) × ( 123456789 + 1 ) =123456789^{2}-((123456789-1)\times(123456789+1)

The product can be written as the difference of two squares

= 12345678 9 2 ( 12345678 9 2 1 2 ) =123456789^{2}-(123456789^{2}-1^{2})

= 12345678 9 2 12345678 9 2 + 1 2 =123456789^{2}-123456789^{2}+1^{2}

= 1 2 =1^{2}

= 1 =1

Let us consider three consecutive numbers 9,10,11. then 10^2-(9*11) =100-(99) =1.

Khang Nguyen
Sep 20, 2016

a 2 1 = ( a 1 ) × ( a + 1 ) a^{2}-1= (a-1) \times (a+1)

12345678 9 2 1 = 123456788 × 123456790 123456789^{2}-1= 123456788 \times 123456790

0 = 12345678 9 2 + 1 ( 123456788 × 123456790 ) 0= -123456789^{2}+1-(123456788 \times 123456790)

0 = 12345678 9 2 1 ( 123456788 × 123456790 ) 0= 123456789^{2}-1-(123456788 \times 123456790)

1 = 12345678 9 2 ( 123456788 × 123456790 ) 1= 123456789^{2}-(123456788 \times 123456790)

= 1 =\boxed{1}

Loo Soo Yong
Jun 27, 2016

Another way

(123456788+1)^2-123456790(123456788) Expanding the brackets give

123456788^2+2(123456788)(1)+1^2 - 123456790(123456788) =123456788^2 - (123456788)(123456788) +1 =(123456788)^2-123456788^2+1 =1

/ ( let's, 123456789=123456700+89; 123456788=123456700+88; 123456790=123456700+90 now, imagine 123456700 =a So, (a+89)^2 - {(a+88)(a+90)} =a^2 + 178a + 7921 -a^2 - 178a - 7920 =1 / )

Eccleston Montaos
Jan 29, 2016

Let x = 123456789

substitute x to the given, 123456789 - (123456788 * 123456790) x^2 - (x-1)(x+1) x^2 - (x^2 - 1^2) x^2 - x^2 +1 1

x=123456789; 123456789²-(123456788 x 123456790)=x²-[(x-1)(x+1)]= x²-[x²-1]=x²-x²+1=0+1=1

Bot Villegas
Oct 30, 2015

(1234567)^2 x 89 - (1234567 x 1234567) x (88+90) = 1

Your math does not make any sense at all.

123456788 x 123456790 ≠ (1234567^2) x (88+90)

Math simply doesn't work this way, its the same as saying

10090 = 100 x 90

or

10090 x 10080 = 100^2 x (90+80)

jamieson ng - 5 years, 2 months ago
Swayam Acharya
Dec 15, 2020

Let 123456789123456789 be xx Therefore, the equation will be x^{2}-(x-1)(x+1)x 2 −(x−1)(x+1) =x^{2}-(x^{2}-1)=x 2 −(x 2 −1) =x^{2}-x^{2}+1=x 2 −x 2 +1 =1=1

Tom Wang
Jun 25, 2020

set 123456789 = a 123456789=a , the expression can be changed to a 2 ( ( a 1 ) ( a + 1 ) ) = 1 a^2-((a-1)(a+1))=1

Parth Agarwal
Nov 4, 2019

Let the no. 123456789 be x.
Therefore, it implies that 123456788 = 123456789-1 = x-1
and 123456790 = 123456789+1 = x+1
So, it forms the equation, x^2 - (x-1)(x+1) = x^2 - x^2 + 1 =1


12345678 9 2 ( 123456788 × 123456790 ) 123456789^2 - (123456788 \times 123456790)

= 12345678 9 2 ( 123456789 1 ) ( 123456789 + 1 ) = 123456789^2 - (123456789 - 1)(123456789 + 1)

= 12345678 9 2 ( 12345678 9 2 1 2 ) = 123456789^2 - (123456789^2 - 1^2)

= 12345678 9 2 12345678 9 2 + 1 2 = 123456789^2 - 123456789^2 + 1^2

= 1 2 = 1^2

= 1 = 1

Gary Munnelly
Dec 5, 2018

x = 12345678 9 2 ( 123456788 × 123456790 ) x = 123456789^2 - (123456788\times 123456790)

x = 12345678 9 2 ( ( 123456788 + 1 1 ) × ( 123456790 + 1 1 ) ) x = 123456789^2 - ((123456788 + 1 - 1)\times (123456790 + 1 - 1))

x = 12345678 9 2 ( ( 123456789 1 ) × ( 123456789 + 1 ) ) x = 123456789^2 - ((123456789 - 1)\times (123456789 + 1))

x = 12345678 9 2 ( 12345678 9 2 + 123456789 123456789 1 ) x = 123456789^2 - (123456789^2 + 123456789 - 123456789 - 1)

x = 12345678 9 2 ( 12345678 9 2 1 ) x = 123456789^2 - (123456789^2 - 1)

x = 12345678 9 2 12345678 9 2 + 1 x = 123456789^2 - 123456789^2 + 1

x = 1 x = 1

Gia Hoàng Phạm
Sep 19, 2018

12345678 9 2 ( 123456790 × 123456788 ) = 12345678 9 2 ( 12345678 9 2 1 ) = 12345678 9 2 12345678 9 2 + 1 = 1 123456789^2-(123456790 \times 123456788)=123456789^2-(123456789^2-1)=123456789^2-123456789^2+1=\boxed{\large{1}}

x = 123456789 x = 123456789

x 1 = 123456788 x - 1 = 123456788

x + 1 = 123456790 x + 1 = 123456790

x 2 ( x 1 ) ( x + 1 ) x^2 - (x - 1) (x + 1)

x 2 ( x 2 1 2 ) x^2 - (x^2 - 1^2)

x 2 x 2 + 1 2 x^2 - x^2 + 1^2

1 2 1^2

1 1

12345678 9 2 ( 123456789 1 ) ( 123456789 + 1 ) 123456789^2 - (123456789 - 1) (123456789 + 1)

12345678 9 2 ( 12345678 9 2 1 2 ) 123456789^2 - (123456789^2 - 1^2)

12345678 9 2 12345678 9 2 + 1 2 123456789^2 - 123456789^2 + 1^2

1 2 1^2

1 1

Ethan Song
May 29, 2017

We know that x 2 = ( x 1 ) ( x + 1 ) + 1 x^{2} = (x-1)(x+1)+1 , since ( x 1 ) ( x + 1 ) = x 2 1 (x-1)(x+1) = x^{2}-1 .

Thus, 123456788 × 123456790 = 12345678 9 2 123456788 \times 123456790 = 123456789^{2}

So, the expression 12345678 9 2 123456788 × 123456790 = 1 123456789^{2} - 123456788 \times 123456790 = \boxed{1 } .

Avianna Gay
Apr 6, 2017

Because the number 123456700 is common for the three numbers involved in the problem [(123456700+89), (123456700+88), (123456700+90)],

(123446700)^2-(123456700×123456700)=0

Therefore, the only numbers that we need to worry about is 89, 88, and 90 So..

89^2-(88×90)=1

Swelf Rad
Mar 26, 2017

Why not this?

It's not 0 because, the calculator cannot calculate so many digits, giving us 0 instead.

Ethan Song - 4 years ago
Annie Li
Mar 20, 2017

think about it more and you will get the answer. also online calculators do not work.

Jared Graeve
Jun 4, 2016

We're talking abou 3 numbers right in a row. So put it in more manageable terms. 1, 2, 3 for example. 2^2 - (3x1)= 4-3=1. Test it to confirm. 9, 10, 11= 100 - 99= 1. With the equation b^2 - (a x c) where a, b, c are three integers in a row, 1 will always be the answer.

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