# Math Help - story problem

1. ## story problem

A kid opens a math book to two facing pages. The product of the page number is 1482. Find the page numbers.

I think the problem is set up like this, but not sure how to do it:

x + (x+1)=1482

2. Originally Posted by bball20
A kid opens a math book to two facing pages. The product of the page number is 1482. Find the page numbers.

I think the problem is set up like this, but not sure how to do it:

x + (x+1)=1482
the word "product" indicates the operation of multiplication ...

x(x+1) = 1482

3. Originally Posted by bball20
A kid opens a math book to two facing pages. The product of the page number is 1482. Find the page numbers.

I think the problem is set up like this, but not sure how to do it:

x + (x+1)=1482
Remember, a product is what you get when you MULTIPLY two numbers together.

So it's actually

$x(x + 1) = 1482$.

4. x(x+1)=1482
x^2 +1x-1482
(x-38)(x+39)

so the pages would be 38 and 39

5. Originally Posted by bball20
x(x+1)=1482
x^2 +1x-1482 = 0
(x-38)(x+39) = 0
x - 38 = 0 or x + 39 = 0
x = 38 or x = -39

so the pages would be 38 and 39
Yes, $x = 38$ is the only solution you can accept since you can't have a negative number of pages.

So the page numbers are $x = 38$ and $x + 1 = 39$.

6. Thank you for your help!