To find the answer to "What two numbers have a product of -17 and a sum of -155?" we first state what we know. We are looking for x and y and we know that x • y = -17 and x + y = -155.
Before we keep going, it is important to know that x • y is the same as y • x and x + y is the same as y + x. The two variables are interchangeable. Which means that when we create one equation to solve the problem, we will have two answers.
To solve the problem, we take x + y = -155 and solve it for y to get y = -155 - x. Then, we replace y in x • y = -17 with -155 - x to get this:
x • (-155 - x) = -17
Like we said above, the x and y are interchangeable, therefore the x in the equation above could also be y. The bottom line is that when we solved the equation we got two answers which are the two numbers that have a product of -17 and a sum of -155. The numbers are:
-155.1096
0.1096
That's it! The two numbers that have a product of -17 and a sum of -155 are -155.1096 and 0.1096 as proven below:
-155.1096 • 0.1096 ≈ -17
-155.1096 + 0.1096 = -155
Note: Answers are rounded up to the nearest five decimals if necessary so the answers may not be exact.
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