To find the answer to "What two numbers have a product of 155 and a sum of -161?" we first state what we know. We are looking for x and y and we know that x • y = 155 and x + y = -161.
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 = -161 and solve it for y to get y = -161 - x. Then, we replace y in x • y = 155 with -161 - x to get this:
x • (-161 - x) = 155
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 155 and a sum of -161. The numbers are:
-160.03144
-0.96856
That's it! The two numbers that have a product of 155 and a sum of -161 are -160.03144 and -0.96856 as proven below:
-160.03144 • -0.96856 ≈ 155
-160.03144 + -0.96856 = -161
Note: Answers are rounded up to the nearest five decimals if necessary so the answers may not be exact.
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